‘Built from scratch’

Colorado State University Pueblo coach reflects on his 15-year legacy on the gridiron

By Ben Cason

On Dec. 13, Colorado State University

Pueblo’s longtime head coach John Wristen announced his retirement from coaching in front of a room of players, coaches, alumni, friends and family. Coach Wristen tried to hold back tears as the crowd gave him a roaring standing ovation.

The moment represented an interesting book-end to a press conference held July 3, 2007, announcing John Wristen as the first head coach of the newly restarted CSU Pueblo football program. The university had not offered football since 1984. They tasked Wristen, an alumnus, with the job of returning NCAA football to Pueblo.

“In education and coaching you never get a chance to start something from scratch,” Wristen said. “I remember looking myself in the mirror and saying ‘hey big boy, you only have one guy to blame and it’s the guy looking back at you.’”

Wristen had been coaching at UCLA under Karl Dorrell at the time. Wristen said, “I wanted to try to be a head coach, and what better way to do that than to be in Pueblo, Colorado, and do it at CSU Pueblo. I really hoped I would get a chance to interview and be a part of something special.”

He quit his job with the Bruins and was selected among over 100 applicants. The Thunderwolves were truly re-launching at the time.

“I remember we had no footballs, I really didn’t have an office on campus, no field and no helmets,” Wristen said.

“When I started, my mindset was that this is going to be my last job, and hopefully it is my last job.”

For the first year on the job, CSU Pueblo was setting its foundation. In 2007, ground was broken on the Thunderbowl, CSU Pueblo’s 6,500-seat home stadium. It was completed and ready for the first home game of the inaugural 2008 football season. As the stadium went up, Wristen went to work hiring coaches and bringing in players to build the program.

“We sold them on the opportunity,” Wristen said. “We told them if they wanted to stay and compete at a high level that we were going to go win a national championship. And that was before we even had a stadium.”

On September 6, 2008, the Pack hosted their first game against Oklahoma Panhandle State University. The Thunderwolves had joined Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football and packed out the Thunderbowl. The Thunderbowl was sold out for the first game. CSU Pueblo was able to pull out a 24-13 win to open up Wristen’s tenure.

“Our kids played hard and gave it everything they could,” Wristen said. “We found a way to win that first game. I thought that was one of the most impressive wins we ever had.”

When talking about that first win, Wristen said, “It was really neat to give everyone a picture of what Pack football was going to be.”

Over the next few years, the Thunder-

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