CEDAR CITY — Tye Hiatt is the new head football coach at Cedar High School.
Newly hired Cedar High School head football coach Tye Hiatt reflects on his coaching career, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 15, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
Hiatt succeeds Josh Bennett, who recently decided to step down after nine years as Cedar’s head coach.
Hiatt’s new job means he and his family will remain in Cedar City, where he worked this past fall as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Southern Utah University under head football coach DeLane Fitzgerald.
During a short interview in front of Cedar High School on Monday, Hiatt spoke of his background and experience, starting from when he grew up attending school in a small community in eastern Oregon.
After high school, Hiatt played football at Southern Virginia University, where he earned all-American honors as a wide receiver.
“After that, I served an LDS church mission,” he said. “I came back and I was like, I don’t know what I really want to do for work, so I got into coaching.”
Hiatt began his coaching career at Southern Virginia, first under Mike Smith and then under Fitzgerald, who had been the team’s offensive coordinator when Hiatt played at SVU.
In 2013, after the SVU Knights’ successful 8-2 season, Fitzgerald was hired as the head coach at Frostburg State University, a Division III school in Maryland that has since moved up to Division II.
Hiatt said that when he followed Fitzgerald to join his staff at Frostburg State, they had their work cut out for them.
“They had won two games in three years, so it was quite a turnaround project,” he said. “But by the fourth year, we ended up 11-2 and finished No. 8 in the country. We made it to the quarterfinals of the Division III national tournament, which was great.”
Cedar High football players make a grand entrance prior to homecoming game vs. Pine Viw, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 22, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
Hiatt’s next job took him to Shepherd University, a Division II school in West Virginia.
“Some people will recognize Shepherd because the quarterback that we had there was Tyson Bagent, who’s now with the Chicago Bears,” Hiatt said. “I was able to coach him for three years.
“It was my first job at the scholarship level,” Hiatt said of his stint at Shepherd, which included a 10-3 season and playoff appearance in 2019. “We were very fortunate to have a lot of success.”
In 2021, in a move that brought him back out west, Hiatt was hired as the head football coach at Eastern New Mexico University.
“We had been out east since 2004,” Hiatt said, “And so at that point, my wife and I, we were kind of trying to get closer to home because my wife is from Utah. She’s from Highland and went to Lone Peak High School.”
Hiatt and his wife Paige are the parents of three young sons: Blake, Neil and Zack.
“We were there for two years and I think we would have been there longer, but our middle son was diagnosed with cancer two years ago,” Hiatt added. “That was kind of one of the reasons that brought us to Utah because when he was diagnosed, he was getting treated at Primary Children’s (in Salt Lake City).”
Hiatt’s son, who is now 7 years old, is still undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments, his father said.
Cedar High School football players take part in practice, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
Hiatt joined the SUU coaching staff in 2023, one year after Fitzgerald was hired as head coach.
“When DeLane first got hired, we talked about the job and I just wasn’t sure quite yet if that was what we wanted to do,” Hiatt said. “But life kind of changes and circumstances change. And so then we came to SUU this past year, and it was great.”
After going 1-10 in 2021, the Thunderbirds went 5-6 during Fitzgerald’s first year in 2022, followed by a 6-5 record in 2023, including 4-2 in conference play.
“I thought we had a good season,” Hiatt said of SUU’s 2023 campaign. “Offensively, I thought we did some good things.”
Nevertheless, Hiatt said he had decided to leave SUU’s program right after the T-Birds’ season ended.
“Our son had gone back onto chemo,” he explained. “It was just, I don’t know, it kind of hit us a little bit harder, because he had gone through a year of treatment and was doing a little bit better. And then he went back on chemo and that was hard for our family.
We’ve been to five schools in five different states. I mean, that’s kind of the nature of college football. And this is the first place that, you know, where we could see ourselves being here … this is a place that we’ve loved, and if we’d love to stay here if we could.”
So when Bennett unexpectedly stepped down from the Cedar High head coaching job, Hiatt decided to go ahead and apply.
Newly hired Cedar High School head football coach Tye Hiatt reflects on his coaching career, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 15, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
“I’m a coach by nature,” Hiatt said, adding that he expects the transition process to go smoothly.
“Josh has been great,” he said. “I first met Josh when I first got here, because they came to a couple of spring practices and camps in the summer.
“When this opened up and when we decided to apply for it, Josh was a tremendous resource, through the whole thing, which is appreciated,” Hiatt added. “He was very open, like, hey, if there’s anything I can do to help you or anything else.”
Cedar’s last winning season was in 2020 when the Reds went 7-5, including a 28-0 home playoff win over Dixie. Then after posting a 2-8 record in 2021, the Reds have had back-to-back 4-7 finishes.
“The goal for our program is to consistently be the best version of ourselves, both individually and collectively as a team,” Hiatt said. “How many wins does that guarantee our program? I have no idea. But in order for us to play our best football, it will require a lot of sacrifice, mental and physical toughness. If we can consistently focus on and master the things within our control, we will be able to perform at a high level.”
Hiatt is the second new Region 9 head football coach to have been announced recently. On Jan. 10, Hurricane High School officials announced the hiring of longtime Duchesne head coach Jerry Cowan, who led the Eagles to a 115-27 record over the past 12 years, including multiple 1A state titles.
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