After 30 years on Wichita-area sidelines, this football coach is resigning
He said it’s time.
Campus football coach Greg Slade has resigned after six seasons with the Colts. In the five years before Slade arrived from Rose Hill, Campus had eight combined wins. Slade more than doubled that during his tenure and helped the Colts to their first playoff win in school history.
Slade said his resignation wasn’t about football or health.
“I want to spend more time with my family,” he said. “As my kids are grown up and they’re not in the house anymore, I want to spend more time with my wife. She has put in a lot of time, and people don’t realize that all that time I’ve put in, she is making a lot of commitments, too, as the spouse of a head coach of a high school sport.”
Slade roamed the sidelines of the Wichita area for 30 years with time as an assistant at his alma mater, Benedictine, as well as Derby Middle School and Derby High, before he earned his first head coaching job at Rose Hill. He spent 15 years with the Rockets and helped them to their first state title in school history in 2011.
With so much of his life dedicated to football, Slade said the decision was hard.
“I feel like this program is in good shape right now, and I feel like it’s a good time,” he said. “A lot of that went through my mind.”
Last season at Campus, Slade helped develop three All-Metro selections: offensive lineman Seth Falley, linebaccker Quinton Hicks and receiver Tyler Kahmann. The Colts finished fourth in AVCTL I, which produced a state champion (Derby) and state semifinalist (Maize). And Slade pushed Campus to its first home playoff win in school history with a 57-7 win over Wichita South after earning the No. 7 seed in Class 6A West.
Slade said he wanted to send a thank you to the Haysville community, Campus administration and most important the players.
“The atmosphere that we developed is one of the things I’m most proud of,” he said. “In the school building with the student body and the community and the parents, that atmopshere has changed. For the student-athletes to understand the commitment to make a change is what it takes to battle through that.”
Slade will remain with Campus as a teacher and will finish the year as part of the Colts’ track and wrestling staffs. He said he is unsure whether he will ever coach again but at this point, he leans toward keeping the whistle off his neck.