Story Written By: Rob White @ CHSAANow.com
AURORA, Colo. — The Horizon Hawks opened the 2025 flag football season with an impressive 24-14 victory over Cherry Creek, with Nevaeh Stukas passing for two touchdowns and Genia Harris and Madison Velotta each scoring twice. The Hawks' defense also intercepted three passes and registered seven sacks, including two each from Harris and Velotta.
Coach Joe French initiated the Horizon program three years ago and guided it into the first season as a CHSAA-sanctioned sport last year, when the Hawks were a solid 11-5 and reached the first round of the playoffs. His work is recognized today as the first Broncos High School Flag Coach of the Week for 2025.
Throughout the season, there will be a weekly Broncos Coach of the Week honorees for flag and tackle, with every nominee recognized on-field at a Broncos home game.
Interview with Joe French:
What is your coaching background?
JF: How much time do you have? I tell everyone I've been coaching some form of sport for 34 or 35 years now. It started when I was a teenager — I was an assistant coach for my sister's softball team. My passion for coaching blossomed from there. As soon as I graduated from high school, I joined my high school team's program as a coach and coached football for a number of years in Arizona. We moved here, and I have two kids who've played sports — softball, football, flag football. … and I'm the assistant coach for the girls varsity soccer team. I've coached youth soccer, T-ball, baseball, track and field and youth basketball. I'm a lifetime coach and I absolutely love it.
How did you get started coaching flag football?
JF: My son was in third or fourth grade and had done various sports already, and we saw an ad somewhere for NFFL (National Flag Football League) and he wanted to do it. Knowing how I am with coaching, I said, 'Oh, I'm not going to be a coach, I'm just going to be a parent.' Well, that lasted all of a week. I became one of the assistants that year and then for eight years I coached flag football for NFFL, coached my son from third through eighth grade, and during that time my daughter decided to play flag football as well, and I coached her team, too.
How did you become Horizon's coach?
JF: Horizon posted the position three years ago, and I knew flag football was growing at the high school level. I knew the athletic director and I reached out and said I was interested, and he said to apply. So I did, and here I am.
What is your coaching style, and where did that come from?
JF: For me, I just love working with youth and I always have. Some of my favorite athletes are the ones who come to us and it's the first time they've ever tried a sport. Three years later, they're confident and they're a starter for us. I don't read books on how to coach, or systems. I'm aware of John Wooden's Pyramid and things like that, and they're great. But I always ask for three things from our teams, and two of them are under their control — and the first two lead to the third thing. The first thing is energy and effort. That's under our control. We can't control the outcome of the game, but we can control our energy and effort. We want to be the hardest-working team on the field. The second thing is listening, being coachable. When our athletes come onto the field for practice or a game, or if it's in the classroom for chalk-talk, they're going to come into that space ready to go, ready to be coached, ready to listen, ready to take criticism, and ready to be better athletes. Those two things lead into the last thing, and that's having fun. More than anything else, an athlete is going to excel when they are having fun. I've said those three things to my 3-year-old soccer players, and heck I said it Monday night to our varsity team.
What have you observed over the past few years in terms of the growth of flag football at the high school level?
JF: It's been absolutely amazing. It's so fun to be part of it and to see the overall growth. When we first started three years ago, we were fortunate enough to have 34 athletes come out and we were able to have two teams — which was amazing. Last year we went from 34 to 50 athletes, and this year we have the same amount. I have quite a few coaches I speak with across the state, and they are all reporting a tremendous amount of growth to go along with the new programs that are just starting up this year. It's phenomenal to see. USA Football has done a tremendous job promoting the sport, and with their lead, it's taken the sport to a whole new level that we had never imagined.
How has flag football had a positive impact on your athletes?
JF: I have athletes who have a lot of things off-the-field going on in their lives. Just being on the field for flag football is tough, but even tougher is life itself. Seeing those athletes being able to handle things that aren't easy has been tremendous. I can consistently see growth from those individuals. It comes down to confidence, and that's really what we're trying to build here — just having an athlete come to us who is lacking confidence and hoping that by the end of the year the script has changed, that she has confidence, and she knows that she has 49 teammates who have her back along with our entire coaching staff.
What has the support been like for your program from your school and your community?
JF: I could talk for an hour or more about that! It starts with our district athletic department really taking on the sport three years ago, approving it and saying that yes, we're going to be front-runners in this sport. It also starts with our school's athletic director, Marty Tonjes, his support for us, for always being there for me and the program. But most importantly it starts with our parent group. Our parents are absolutely amazing. They come to our games, cheer us on, are very positive and are there when things are tough. They always have our backs. The school community has been outstanding. The community itself, Thornton, always is there for us if we need field space or anything along those lines.
Last week, a 24-14 win over Cherry Creek, how good of a win was that for you to start the season?
JF: It was a really good win. Both of those teams worked extremely hard. Cherry Creek is an exceptional opponent, made the quarterfinals of the state tournament last year. They won (Monday) against Ralston Valley, another exceptional program. So, it was a really good win for us. And the hardest thing for a program like us is that now we're not unknown. Now, as a group, we're going to have to come every week and give maximum effort and give whoever we're playing our best, because we're going to get their best.
There's a long way to go, but what goals do you have for the rest of the season?
JF: Every year our athletic director puts on a coaching conference for the various sports, and we come together as a group, and he always has a guest speaker come and talk to us. This year Marc Johnson, the legendary (former baseball) coach from Cherry Creek, came and spoke to us and what he said really stuck with me. And that was, 'Stop focusing on winning championships and start focusing on the other things.' Because if you focus on the other things, the championships and whatever your goals may be, will fall in line. So our goal as a program is to be the hardest-working team out there. When we come to play, our goal is to always out-work you. We may not be the most talented, but by golly we're going to work hard.
