New football coach steps into big shoes

Ryan Butner was 15 years old when his predecessor was head football coach at Central Valley High School, and if he sticks around as long, he’ll be a young 60 when he hangs up the whistle.

“I was on Rick (Giampietri’s) first team as a head coach,” Butner, CV Class of 1996, said. “Of course he’d already been there for 10 years as an assistant coach.”

The dean of area high school football coaches, Giampietri, 67, retired after 23 seasons as head coach at CV following the 2015 season. In March, the CV school board hired Butner, 37, to be his replacement.

The hire came as no surprise to Giampietri; he’d been lobbying for Butner throughout the process.

“I grew up with Rick’s son, Ricky – we were in kindergarten together,” Butner said. “We’ve been great friends since we were five years old.”

Giampietri hired Butner as a CV assistant coach while he was still in college and he’s been part of the CV staff for 18 years.

Butner said the thought of one day succeeding his mentor was always in the back of his mind.

“I honestly thought that Rick was going to coach forever,” he said.

And perhaps he will. Giampietri has already signed on as an assistant coach to help smooth the transition.

Over those years, Butner took on more and more responsibility. In recent years, for example, he overhauled the CV offense, introducing a no-huddle attack and spread formations.

“The last couple of years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to attend a workshop at Seattle Seahawks headquarters,” he said. “The first year I was the only assistant coach there. This last year there was one other. I learned so much there – I picked up more from that clinic and those 15 guys than anything else I’ve done. They were mostly guys from the West side of the state.

“It wasn’t about X’s and O’s. In fact, there were no X’s and O’s. It was about how they ran their programs, how they motivated their kids. You know – the best thing coaches do is steal from each other.”

Giampietri was instrumental in getting him into the clinic, Butner said. And he’s been putting everything he’s learned into the preparation for his inaugural season.

“Rick did a really good job of prepping me,” Butner said. “It’s not like I’ve been completely blindsided. It’s certainly quite a bit more load, without question. There have been a lot of meetings, making sure everyone is on the same page.

“So far it’s been awesome. Everything is coming along really well. We have some phenomenal kids and their energy levels have been really high. The kids are buying into what we’re selling.

“But the shoes I’m trying to fill are enormous.”

Butner has assembled his coaching staff – replacing some longtime Giampietri assistants who have retired as well, including longtime offensive coordinator Rick Sloan, who will concentrate on his job as the boys basketball coach.

Central Valley has a history of stability and continuity in both the football program and with the football staff.

“I would love it if this all worked out that way,” the new coach said. “That would be ideal, to have that kind of continuity and chemistry year after year. This group of coaches we have now – I’m just so excited to have this group come together.”

Thus far, Butner has been busy with spring drills and will have a week’s worth of workouts later this month at the annual Border League camp.

He’s quick to point out that he’s not planning to make wholesale changes.

“I’m not going to change much,” he said. “I just want to alter a few points of emphasis in how we do things.”