After a surprising resignation from now-former Cottonwood High School head football coach Tui Satuala in late 2025, there was a need to get this one right. With new head coach Mike Ward, there is this feeling that Cottonwood administration hit this one out of the park, so to speak. 

“We’re ecstatic for the coach Mike Ward era as the head coach of Cottonwood football,” said James MacIntyre, Cottonwood’s athletic director. “Coach Ward has been preparing to lead a program for years, and we’re grateful he chose Cottonwood.” 

Ward steps in, having helped guide two different Granger High School quarterbacks to All-State, All-Region and record-setting years—over the past two seasons. 

“Mike will tear it up!” said former Granger head football coach Peter Smolin. “He was a huge part of the continued success at G House. As a player’s coach, he relates well with the kids and is amazing at skill development.” 

Before accepting the offensive coordinator job at Granger, Ward spent four years at Cyprus High, leading the Pirates’ running back and defensive line rooms. 

Ward played his college football at NCAA Division III Wesley College (Delaware), where he received All-American honors for his efforts as a 6-foot-5-inch, 312-pound defensive tackle. 

From there, Ward went undrafted but earned his way onto several Arena Football League rosters, including the Allen (Texas) Wranglers, Utah Blaze and Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. 

Ward arrives at The Wood when the football program is in a tumultuous period. One year ago at about the same time, the program’s general manager and several position coaches and alums resigned from their roles at CHS to accept other similar roles at area high schools. 

Shortly thereafter, and about a month after the most recent football season had concluded in late 2025, Satuala stepped down, citing family reasons—the same given by Donovan Malmrose, longtime Cottonwood offensive coordinator and alum, when he stepped down after just one season as Colts head coach in early 2023. 

That marked two head coaching resignations in just three years. 

Thus, it made perfect sense to Cottonwood’s athletic director—himself new in his role but not to NIL, as that was part of his job description in the University of Utah’s athletic department—that the Colts try to find someone who wants to stay at the school and build something unique here. 

Unique is a great way to describe what Ward helped build at Granger; he led two different Lancer quarterbacks to 2,500 yards passing in his two years at the school under coach Peter Smolin. Granger finished third this past season in Class 5A’s Region 4 behind West Jordan and West High schools in the final standings with a 7-5 record, 5-2 in league play. The Lancers also advanced to the second round of the 5A state playoffs, after winning their first-round game against Taylorsville. 

The final piece to the puzzle perhaps, is that Cottonwood High has always had a unique student body. As an open enrollment school in the Granite District, replete with several nationally recognized academic programs including AMES, the school draws kids from all parts of the Salt Lake Valley. In the past, this has even included an Olympic silver medalist in swimming who attended AMES, and dozens of student-athletes that went on to play professionally in several sports. 

The catch? Some of these student-athletes haven’t always played their sports at Cottonwood; this is an area in which coach Ward—and what is presumed to be at least some carryover from Granger’s staff—could come in and immediately address, given his recent track record at Granger. 

The building of Ward’s staff is to be determined, but for a program that went 0-19 over the past two years, 3-26 over three, and has been in desperate need of a reinfusion of not only numbers but leadership, the new coach could conceivably bring both areas back to Cottonwood. 

“Throughout the interview process, it became clear that Coach is a dynamic leader who has an actionable vision for the Cottonwood football program,” MacIntyre said. “He is ready to hit the ground running, and we have no doubt that he will be a great addition to the Cottonwood community.”