By Don Ketchum

Craig Holland just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t just sit back and allow another high school football season to proceed without being involved.

So he left his administrative position as assistant principal at Youngker High in Buckeye to become a teacher and head football coach at nearby Avondale Agua Fria.

Holland grew up in the Valley and was a quarterback at Phoenix Maryvale. He later became a coach at Flagstaff High for 24 years and was the head coach for 19 of them, leaving in 2008.

He was an assistant football coach at Agua Fria for Kelly Epley for one season before coaching Youngker’s boys basketball team for one season.

Coaching football continued to flow through Holland’s veins, so when Epley, a long-time friend, stepped down at Agua Fria after the 2010 season, Holland applied and was chosen for the job.

“I enjoyed the assistant-principal job, but I just couldn’t see myself retiring as an administrator,’’ Holland said. “I needed to get back into teaching and coaching.’’

During his down time, Holland played golf in the mornings, “but by 11 there wasn’t anything left to do. I also tried officiating (football), but I was pretty bad,’’ he said, laughing.

He eagerly awaits those Friday nights when the weather cools and the colors of red and gray will flash up and down the field for the Owls.

Part of the preparation included spring ball and then participation in passing league competition at Arizona State.

“I’d say we did pretty well,’’ Holland said. “We showed that we are capable of playing with some of the so-called better teams, including ones from the east Valley.’’

On Saturday, Holland will return to Flagstaff when Agua Fria competes in another seven-on-seven passing competition at Coconino High.

“I always will be delighted to see everybody up there,’’ he said. “Eddie Campos is the Flagstaff coach and he used to be at Sinagua (now closed), and Tadd Ragan has coached at Coconino for quite a while. I had hoped to get one or two of them on our schedule, but with the new alignment and sections starting up (this fall), that probably won’t happen for awhile.’’

Agua Fria and the community of Avondale have some similarities to Flagstaff, according to Holland.

“Avondale is a close-knit community,’’ he said. “It’s been around since the 1950s, and there are a lot of brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents who have been through the school. You get the feeling of a rich tradition.’’

The team has about 24 lettermen returning, and some of those players were with the program as freshmen when Holland assisted Epley.

“The kids here are very loyal. They are nice and polite. They were always good to me,’’ Holland said.

Will the Owls be good on the field?

They have two strong senior running backs that are expected to see a lot of time.

Leandre Vaughn rushed for 1,138 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and Keith Huckaby, whose father, also named Keith, starred at Agua Fria in the late 1980s, rushed for 720 yards and six TDs. They also start on defense, Vaughn at cornerback and Huckaby at safety.

Holland will have a new quarterback, Robert Simington, who moves over from wide receiver. Simington has done well in drills so far, the coach said. And Simington will have a good pass-catching target in Mike Price.

“And we will have very good speed. I had some good speed a few times at Flagstaff, but it was nothing like this,’’ Holland said.

Agua Fria will play in the new Division III Section III, which includes Scottsdale Saguaro, Phoenix Thunderbird, Apache Junction, Goodyear Desert Edge, Younger, Phoenix Sierra Linda, Phoenix Arcadia, Tempe, Phoenix Paradise Valley, Phoenix Washington, Phoenix Moon Valley and Yuma.

Saguaro won the old Class 4A Division I championship and Thunderbird won 4A Division II.