New Snohomish district school picks a coach

Published 11:46 pm Sunday, January 13, 2008

Ready to return to his roots, Rory Rosenbach is leaving the pinnacle for the Peak.

Rosenbach, a 1994 Snohomish High School graduate, has been hired to be the first head football coach at Glacier Peak High School, the new Snohomish district school set to open next school year.

Rosenbach, who played tight end at Air Force Academy and the University of Oregon after competing for legendary Snohomish High coach Dick Armstrong, guided his previous team to two state titles the past three seasons. His Marist (Eugene, Ore.) Catholic squads won the Oregon Class 3A championship in 2005 and last month hoisted the state’s 4A crown.

In Oregon, 4A is the third-highest competition classification.

“I’m very excited about coming back to Snohomish,” said Rosenbach, 32. “It’s been a long time since I’ve lived there and I’m excited about being part of the community again.”

The Glacier Peak job is Rosenbach’s second head-coaching position. He will start the Grizzlies’ program from scratch and hopes to arrive in Snohomish by early February to get started.

Rosenbach was highly recommended, said Snohomish district athletic director Mark Albertine, part of the committee who hired the former Panther.

“We just felt that given his experience as a head coach and his knowledge of football, he’s obviously a good teacher because of what he’s done at Marist. We felt he was the right candidate,” Albertine said.

Creating tradition while building a team from the ground up is an exciting opportunity, Rosenbach said. He has plenty of work ahead — everything from explaining strategy to getting equipment.

“We need to teach kids a new system. It’s also a brand-new school, so we need to order gear and jerseys, and set up summer camps,” he said.

As for Rosenbach’s offensive approach, it’s nothing like what one might expect from a former player of Armstrong, who had great success using an arguably boring but effective, straightforward rushing attack.

Shot-gun formations with numerous receivers and a fast-paced, no-huddle scheme — that’s Rosenbach’s style. This past season Marist’s quarterback passed for more than 3,000 yards and completed at least 50 passes to three teammates, Rosenbach said.

“That will be an advantage for us because teams will have to prepare for something different when they play us,” said Rosenbach, referring to the area’s mass of coaches with run-focused offenses. “We’ll make teams cover the whole field from end zone to end zone and sideline to sideline.”

Glacier Peak will be a 3A team in the Western Conference South Division. It will play a full varsity schedule its first year, but it won’t have seniors. Next school year’s freshmen, sophomores and juniors in the district who live south of the Snohomish River will attend the school, said Albertine.

“It’s a huge disadvantage,” Rosenbach said, “because seniors always make up that nucleus and core of the team.”

In its first two seasons Glacier Peak will have to rely on next school year’s juniors for leadership.

Said Rosenbach, “Hopefully they’ll be up to the challenge.”

Contact Herald Writer Mike Cane at mcane@heraldnet.com. For more high school sports news, check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.