Cuthbertson Chosen to Refresh Green River Football

Green River High School alum Kevin Cuthbertson is taking the reins of the Wolves’ football program.

Cuthbertson was announced on Monday as the new head coach replacing Marty Wrage, who was not brought back after a pair of 2-6 seasons in which Green River didn’t make the playoffs.

Cuthbertson told WyoPreps to take over his alma mater is something special.

“You graduate, and you remember putting on the jersey and playing with your friends out on that field. I was lucky enough to come back home and teach in the district, and I did some assistant coaching with Darren Howard and Don Maggi, as well. To have the opportunity to come up and for me to be given this chance, it’s a dream come true.”

He went on to say he’s grateful to have the chance to walk the sideline as a Wolf.

Coming off a couple of difficult seasons, Cuthbertson believes the cupboard isn’t bare.

“I think we’ve got a lot of great athletes. We have tremendous facilities, and we have an amazing community that’s standing behind us.”

He added that it starts with a team concept.

“It’s the old John Wooden philosophy, the star of the team is the team. That’s the philosophy we’re gonna have going forward. This is a team effort. I don’t look at it as ‘my program’ or the staff’s program. Last time I checked, the name starts with Green River for Green River Wolves. It’s the schools’, the community’s, and it’s about these kids, and that’s how we’ll approach it.”

Cuthbertson brings with him over 20 years of experience, including serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator from 2009-2016 at GRHS. Before that he spent about a dozen years coaching in the St. George, Utah area. Cuthbertson was the head coach at Desert Hills High School from 2007-to-2009. He spent time as a varsity assistant and offensive coordinator at Pine View and Dixie High Schools from 1997-to-2007.

In high school, Cuthbertson was a three-time All-State selection and team captain at Green River in the late 1980s and 1990. He went on to play wide receiver at Southern Utah University, where he was a team captain and named All-Conference and team MVP his senior year. Cuthbertson followed that with a three-year stint as a semi-professional football player in Europe. He was a two-year All-Euro performer with the Helsinki Roosters.

“We look forward to working with Kevin as our new GRHS Head Football Coach,” said Green River AD Anthony Beardsley in a statement released on Monday. “Kevin has put in a great deal of time in the past as one of our Assistant Coaches as well as a Physical Education and Social Studies Teacher within Sweetwater County School District #2. Coach Cuthbertson is extremely excited to take over the Green River High School Football program. I look forward to assisting Kevin in his effort to rebuild and sustain our GRHS Football Team.”

Cuthbertson knows the power in Class 3A football is in the West Conference.

“I look at 3A, I think it’s one of the most competitive divisions in high school sports, especially the schools we’re playing up against each year with the Star Valley’s, with the Powell’s, and with some of these other programs that seemingly are in the top every year. That’s of course, where we want to be.”

He wants to set his sights extremely high and bring home state titles, but he also has a higher aspiration.

“I don’t really look at it as wanting to build a win-loss program. Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to bring home state championships, but what’s most important to me is not building that win-loss record, but building young men. That’s really what our job as coaches is to do.”

Cuthbertson gets an opportunity to do that at a place he graduated from in 1991.