Coming Home: Weaver Begins New Era for Aztec Football
Story by Walter Dorman
For Colton Weaver, taking over the Aztec Tigers football program is more than simply landing his first head coaching job.
It is coming home.
Weaver grew up in the program, played for Aztec during some of its most successful years and was part of a state championship team. Now, after spending years learning the profession as an assistant coach, he has been given the opportunity to lead the program that helped shape him.
“This is a dream job for me,” Weaver said. “I played there and got to play for Coach Hirsch and Coach Kovacs back in the day and win a state championship with them. So getting to come home and take over has really meant a lot to me and definitely my family. We’re Aztec people.”
Weaver takes over an Aztec program that has experienced plenty of change in recent years. Rather than dwelling on the past, however, the first-year head coach is focused on providing something his players can count on every day.
Stability.
Weaver said creating a consistent environment has been one of his biggest priorities since taking over.
“It’s huge,” he said. “I think that’s been my number one thing, just being stable for the kids and having a consistent schedule.”
That consistency began during the summer and has carried into preseason practice.
“Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was exactly the same,” Weaver said. “I just try and bring some stability because it’s hard to build a program without it.”
For Weaver, rebuilding Aztec football starts with establishing expectations and then holding everyone in the program to them.
That is one of the biggest lessons he learned from Bloomfield head coach Mike Kovacs, who coached Weaver as a player and later had him on his coaching staff.
“The way that he puts the program first over everybody,” Weaver said of Kovacs. “He holds everybody to the standard. It’s a tough standard.”
Players, coaches and everyone surrounding the program are expected to meet it.
Weaver intends to bring the same philosophy to Aztec.
Hungry to Learn
While there is plenty of work ahead, Weaver has already found something he likes about his first Tiger team.
They want to learn.
“Their hunger for knowledge,” Weaver said when asked what stood out most about his players. “This has probably been the best group I’ve coached where they are just hungry to learn about the actual game.”
Weaver said his players aren’t simply accepting an instruction and moving on. They want to understand why a technique works or why a particular assignment is important.
“They actually want to understand it,” he said. “This team actually wants to know the why and what is going to make them better.”
The physical development will continue. Players will get stronger, faster and more comfortable within the system.
But Weaver believes having a group willing to learn gives Aztec something important to build around.
Accountability Comes First
If there is one word Weaver repeatedly comes back to when discussing the foundation of the program, it is accountability.
“Number one, accountability,” he said. “Holding these kids accountable. It’s not the most popular thing to do, but it has to be done.”
For Weaver, playing time will not simply be determined by age or class.
“If they’re there, they’re doing everything we’re asking them to, it doesn’t matter if they’re a senior, freshman, sophomore, junior,” he said. “If they’re doing what we ask, those kids are going to play.”
Winning matters.
But Weaver also wants to make sure the Tigers build something that lasts.
“As much as I want to win, I want to do this thing correctly,” he said.
That may be especially important for a program looking to establish some continuity after several seasons of change.
Weaver understands there are no shortcuts.
“It’s hard for anyone to build a program with just one year,” he said. “So just bring some stability and work towards it for year two.”
A New Challenge in Class 3A
Aztec also enters a new classification this season, moving into Class 3A.
Weaver isn’t interested in treating that move as if the Tigers are stepping into an easier road.
He quickly points to programs such as St. Michael’s, Robertson and West Las Vegas as examples of the strength within the classification.
“3A is tough,” Weaver said. “I don’t really view it as anything less than 4A. I think there’s great teams in 3A as well.”
For Weaver, the classification matters less than the standard Aztec establishes for itself.
The Tigers’ job is to improve, compete and build a program capable of sustaining success.
A Memorable First Game
Weaver’s first regular-season game as a head coach will also provide a unique storyline.
Aztec opens against Bayfield, which also enters the season with a new head coach in longtime college football coach Rocky Long.
For Weaver, it is quite a way to begin.
“My first ever game coaching high school football was the North-South All-Star game in 2017,” Weaver said. “And now my first head coaching game is against Rocky Long.”
Long’s lengthy college coaching career makes the matchup one Weaver knows he will remember.
“My gosh, that guy is a legend, college legend,” Weaver said. “To go against him is something I’ll always talk about.”
But Weaver said there will be no special nerves when kickoff arrives.
He believes the players are the ones doing the difficult work.
“We get the easy job on Friday nights,” he said. “It’s the players that have to put in all the hard work.”
Learning From the Past — Without Living in It
Weaver understands Aztec football’s history perhaps better than most.
He lived it.
He played during a successful era of Tiger football and was part of a state championship program.
But he also understands that rebuilding Aztec in 2026 cannot simply mean copying what worked more than a decade ago.
“We’re just in a different era now compared to 2011,” Weaver said.
The circumstances have changed. The number of players is different. High school football itself continues to evolve.
That means Aztec must evolve with it.
“Yes, we want to rely on what a powerhouse it was,” Weaver said, “but we’re going to get it back to that in just a little different manner.”
That philosophy has been shaped by more than one mentor.
Weaver has worked under several head coaches throughout his career, including Kovacs, Denetso, Alcorn, Stovall and others, and said he has tried to take something valuable from each one.
“I’ve learned something from them in each different realm,” Weaver said. “I’m just taking a little piece from each one of them, and hopefully I can make all of them proud.”
But ultimately, this will be Weaver’s program.
His standards.
His identity.
And his opportunity to put his own stamp on Aztec football.
Bringing the Pride Back
Weaver remembers what Friday nights in Aztec once looked like.
He remembers a packed Fred Cook Memorial Stadium and a community that planned its Friday nights around Tiger football.
“My mom would have to get to the football field at 4 o’clock on Friday to go get a seat,” Weaver said.
Those memories matter to him.
And while Weaver isn’t trying to live in the past, he would certainly like to see that excitement return.
“I want to see that stadium — Fred Cook is a beautiful stadium — I want to see it get packed again,” he said.
For a first-year head coach taking over his hometown program, the goal goes well beyond wins and losses.
It is about giving Aztec something to believe in.
“I just want to make the town proud,” Weaver said. “I want the town to be proud of our team.”
For Weaver, the opportunity is deeply personal.
He once wore the Aztec uniform as a player.
Now he gets the chance to lead the Tigers onto the field as their head coach — and begin building the next chapter of Aztec football.
