Kendall Flynn is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

North Canyon High School’s Jeremy Dieck began his first year as head coach in March 2022. 

When he began, Dieck said a high percentage of the players had one or more failing grades. However, after putting athletes in summer school and having study hall twice a week with student tutors from the National Honors Society, the team has zero ineligibles. 

This is the kind of program Dieck wants to build. He said he hopes to impact the players positively through work ethic, life lessons, and care. 

“I am one of those people that likes the underdogs,” Dieck said. “[Dieck and the coaching staff] would like to take something and built it, not just be a part of something that’s already built.”

Dieck moved to Arizona from Michigan 10 years ago, starting his Arizona coaching career at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix in various coaching positions. After six years with Shadow Mountain, Dieck moved to North Canyon High School in Phoenix as an equipment manager and assistant coach for football. 

After the previous coach, Adam Beene, left for La Joya Community High School, Dieck was offered the head coach position at North Canyon. Dieck said he talked to his family about the offer, and then decided to build his coaching staff.

When hiring his coaching staff, Dieck said he focused on hiring people who would demonstrate care for the team and help kickstart it. All of the coaches have either played for or coached with Dieck in the past.

Dieck said the players can tell when their coach doesn’t care about them on and off the field. When the players struggle to feel that personal care bond from their coach, they don’t play as well on the field. 

“I’m not out to see what I can get out of them for myself. They see right through that stuff,” Dieck said. “If they know you don’t care, they’re not going to play for you. You just have to show them that you actually care.”

North Canyon head athletic trainer Crystal Holland Betcher has worked with Dieck for four years and has seen his care for the players. Holland Betcher said Dieck cares for the players as people, not just as athletes. 

“He truly cares about what is going on in school life, what’s going on in home life, their personal lives, and also how it relates to football,” Holland Betcher said. “He definitely takes those experiences that the student athletes have outside of the sport and understands how it applies inside.”

North Canyon senior Jordan “Cookie” Peterson said Dieck’s care for school work will be influential as he goes to college.

“My work ethic will probably transfer into college, and it will be good for me,” Peterson said.

Dieck said the coaching staff remembers what it was like on the field during Friday nights and the exciting feeling that comes with it. He uses this feeling to bond further with his players by encouraging them in their studies because any of the coaches would take their spot on the field. 

“I just say that, ‘A lot of these coaches would trade spots with you in a second,’” Dieck said. “I look back on it now and think, ‘Man, I wish I could practice one more time.’”

Dieck said he hopes to build North Canyon’s football program by continuing as the head coach for seasons to come.