Bret McGatlin resigns as Valor Christian football coach after three seasons

There’s been another changing of the guard at Valor Christian football.

Bret McGatlin has resigned as the Eagles’ head coach after three years, Valor Christian AD Keith Wahl confirmed to The Denver Post on Thursday night. Whoever takes the job for 2025 will be the Eagles’ fifth head coach in nine seasons.

A statement released by the school said McGatlin stepped down “to pursue new opportunities in his career.”

“We’re really thankful for (McGatlin’s) last three years,” Wahl told The Post. “… We were ready to continue to support him, but he decided to step down.”

Before McGatlin, Donnie Yantis coached the team for two years before leaving for Prestonwood Christian Academy in Texas; Ed McCaffrey led the Eagles for two years before leaving for the University of Northern Colorado; and the five-year tenure of Rod Sherman, now at Orange (Calif.) Lutheran, ended after the 2017 season.

Valor Christian has won eight state titles in football, including five at the Class 5A level, but none since McCaffrey’s first season in 2018. Since that game, the Eagles lost three championship games in a row to Cherry Creek from 2020 to ’22, including a 24-17 defeat in the title game to end McGatlin’s first year.

McGatlin was 28-10 in his tenure with the Eagles. In addition to the 2022 championship game appearance, Valor made the semifinals in 2024, when the Eagles lost to eventual champion Cherry Creek. Between those deep postseason runs, the Eagles went 6-5 in McGatlin’s second season in 2023. That was the fewest wins for the program since its inaugural season in 2008 when they were 4-6 in Class 3A.

After 2023, the Eagles hired Bob Stitt as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Stitt took over play-calling duties from McGatlin. Stitt was formerly the head coach at Colorado School of Mines as well as the University of Montana, and he also had stops at Oklahoma State, Texas State and Harvard.

Stitt’s return as Valor Christian’s O.C. in 2025 is to be determined based on who the next head coach is, Wahl said, and that it’s also too early to determine whether Stitt will be a candidate to replace McGatlin.