The Golden Trident

By Aiden Owens

Pete Sterbick is no stranger to being a football coach. Since graduating from Augustana University in South Dakota, where he played as a punter and wide receiver, Sterbick has been coaching all levels all around the country. From being an offensive graduate assistant at Washington State to the head coach at McPherson College and finally ending up as an offensive coordinator at Colorado School of Mines in 2019. 

       The previous head coach at Mines, Brandon More, during his one-year tenure, led them to the National Championship game. The head coach before that, Gregg Brandon, coached at Mines for 6 years leading them to four RMAC titles and one national championship semifinal before his departure in 2021. Coach Sterbick related the success of the program to the foundation that Coach Brandon had built. Becoming the offensive coordinator at Mines in 2019, Sterbick benefited from being at Mines for four years before becoming head coach. Being within the program and the familiarity with the recent success of the program gave him the upper hand when taking over the job. 

“It was definitely beneficial but mainly because I had been here, and was a part of what we’ve done. If I were coming in from the outside, I think that would’ve made it more challenging. I knew what I was getting myself into. The familiarity that I had with all the players, the recent success, and the reasons why were hugely important to have first-hand knowledge of.” This ability to know how to perform at a high level allowed him to keep moving in the right direction and keep the culture of winning. 

However, sustaining a culture of success is no small feat especially when the revolving door of the roster changes every year. Having the same philosophy and schemes presents challenges with new kids coming into the school every year. Not only this but coaching at a school as academically challenging as Mines presents an entirely more difficult process. Verifying the academic side of the potential return is the first task when looking into a player. Once that is verified every recruit is looked at, invited to camps, and made sure that they are “Mines Guys”. 

“We want them and their parents to fully understand what it means to come to college here and play football. This place is not for everyone, it’s hard, but it truly is a great opportunity for the recruits that end up here,” said Sterbick. Mines is a place where people should want to play because of the unique opportunity that these players are given for later life. It should not be something taken for granted.

Furthermore, Coach Sterbick wholeheartedly believes that college athletics is a people-driven business. The people on the staff play a big role in the recruiting and building of a high-level football program. The importance of these coaches wanting to continue building the success that Mines has had is what allows for the football program to keep growing. No matter how great the success has been in the the past there needs to be continued work towards more and more or eventually a program will become complacent and forgotten. “Programs that get complacent get left behind,” Coach Sterbick exclaimed, making it clear that this was the only way to lead and continue on such great success. Everyone needs to be driven and intelligent and love the game of football in order for this to happen.

Sterbick’s understanding of all of these crucial parts of building a team is what has made Mines so successful, as well as leading to his own personal success. All of these aspects build a program that’s main is built around winning. Not only have they built a program to win, they are executing it. Having led the team to the Nation Championship again last year the goal is to keep improving on this. This season Mines has already started off with a win over West Texas A&M 41 to 13. When Sterbick went over what his goals for this season were, he emphasized, “simply put, we want to win each game and find out how good this group can be.” Judging by their early success, it seems like they are well on their way.