Cyprus hires Idaho native Scott Wooldridge as football coach

Cyprus football once again has a new coach — this time, the Pirates reached out of state for someone to turn around their struggling program.

Scott Wooldridge, 48, who coached the last 6 years at Nampa High School in Idaho, is starting to assemble his staff as he prepares to take charge of one of the state's most futile programs of the last few years. He brings some experience, having taken Nampa to the playoffs three times and finishing as the state runner-up one year.

He would've been happy to stay at his alma mater, but love changed his life. He decided to move to Salt Lake to get married, and began looking for work.

"Cyprus was in one of the communities I drove through around here, and I thought it was nice," Wooldridge says. "When the job opened up, I put my name in there, and I'm definitely happy to get the job."

He'll have a mighty task ahead of him. Wooldridge must turn around a team that went 0-9 last year and now resides in one of the state's toughest regions.

Principal Steve Hess said Wooldridge stood out with a vision for the program and a track record of success. He wasn't too concerned about how he would fare in Magna, a traditionally tight community.

"He's from a small town, and I think he'll be great here," Hess said. "We already have a lot of community members calling in to offer their support to the program. People are excited, and the kids are excited."

Wooldridge said he already had a chance to meet a few of his players. An official meeting will be held on Thursday, followed by an afternoon meeting at the school for parents.

The new coach said he was still hiring assistants and wasn't sure what systems he'd run, previously using zone-read and power running offenses at Nampa. Wooldridge said he is still learning about his team, and wants to play to the strengths of his personnel.

"You just gotta get in there and start working, and get them to believe," Wooldridge said. "We've got some big strong kids here, and I think we can be successful."

— Kyle Goon

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon