Scottsdale Chaparral is welcoming back former head football coach Conrad Hamilton after spending last season as a senior defensive analyst for Arizona State.

Hamilton will be on campus as a teacher in the physical education and will have the titles executive head coach and defensive coordinator, Athletic Director Tommy Eubanks said Friday.

Eubanks said that Thomas Lewis still will run the show as head coach, but the two men agreed on the titles.

Lewis also made a big offseason move by hiring former Phoenix Horizon head coach Kris Heavner as offensive coordinator, giving up the reins he held the last two years.

Hamilton and Lewis could not be immediately reached for comment.

Lewis does not work on campus, but Hamilton will have a larger role as a physical education teacher next school year, Eubanks said.

“As much as I’m excited to have Conrad back as a coach, I’m even more excited that he will be on campus,” Eubanks said.

• ?Purchase tickets for azcentral.com Sports Awards

• Larry Fitzgerald headlines azcentral.com Sports Awards show

• Nominate:, Athletes of the Week, Academic All-Stars

David Huffine, who is now athletic director at Scottsdale Coronado, is the last Chaparral head coach to work on campus. Huffine’s last season was 2013.

Hamilton was the defensive coordinator under Charlie Ragle when the Firebirds captured state championships in 2009 and 2010. Chaparral won state again in 2011, when Hamilton moved over to Phoenix North Canyon to be head coach.

That lasted one season, before he returned as defensive coordinator at Chaparral.

This will be Hamilton’s third tour of duty as Chaparral’s defensive coordinator.

Last April, Hamilton resigned as Chaparral head coach to join Todd Graham’s staff at ASU as a senior defensive analyst.

Horizon had one of the state’s best offenses under Heavner in 2013 and 2014 when now UNLV quarterback Dalton Sneed was under center.

Chaparral had one of the state’s best defenses with Hamilton in control.

With freshman quarterback Jack Miller transferring from Scottsdale Christian, Chaparral could have a big bounce-back season after going 5-6, suffering its first losing season in 21 years.

Eubanks said that Chaparral will play on a new synthetic turf field in the fall. Chaparral installed synthetic surface in 2007 with booster money, but wear and tear has led the district’s superintendent to open up finances for Chaparral to replace it, Eubanks said.

Suggest human interest stories to Richard Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him at azc_obert

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions