Mica Mountain built high school football program via stockpile of winning Tucson coaches

If your high school football program is in need of a successful head coach, you can blame Mica Mountain for stockpiling them.

The Tucson area’s youngest school features four of Southern Arizona’s most dominant high school football coaches in the 21st century.

First, there’s Mica Mountain principal Nemer Hassey, who after a successful run as head coach at Sahuaro, went at 141-50 Cienega.

Then there’s Mica Mountain assistant principal and athletic director Jay Campos, who won 133 games as Sabino’s head coach and led the Sabercats to four state championship games.

Next up: MM actual varsity head football coach, Pat Nugent. He’s led Flowing Wells, Canyon del Oro, Pima College and then Cienega, compiling a 48-14 record and leading the Bobcats to back-to-back Class 5A state semifinal appearances.

“Nobody has a better job than I do,” Nugent said. “To have your bosses be football geeks and they want to win just as much as I do ...

“I got a great job and it’s a great situation to be in.”

The experience on the Thunderbolts’ coaching roster gets even deeper, though. Midway through last season, Pima County Sports Hall of Famer Richard Sanchez joined the staff as the offensive line coach. Sanchez went 105-24 at Sunnyside, including state titles in 2001 and 2003, before short stints at Santa Rita and Tucson High.

“Pat knows what he wants to do, Richard Sanchez is helping him out, he’s got great experience,” Campos said. “Nemer and I are there as support so we know what it takes to make sure he has what he needs to be successful and that’s our main job.”

Nugent coached under Hassey at Cienega for one season and led the Bobcats for six before moving to Mica Mountain.

MM senior tight end/linebacker Kason Colbert, who ran for 211 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries in the Thunderbolts’ 49-7 win over Sabino on Friday, appreciates playing at a school that has such a deep connection to the sport, even if the program isn’t that old.

“It’s a great feeling, said Colbert, No. 44 for the Thunderbolts. “They’re understanding, and they make sure that we get our work done, keep us accountable and all that because they know how hard it is with practice and everything.”

Last Friday’s game was also Nugent’s 150th career high school win.

“Ah it’s just a number to me. One-fifty means you’ve been around a long time,” Nugent said. “I’ve had great coaches, great football players. When you got a guy like 44 on your team it makes every win easy for ya.”

Mica Mountain (3-0), which opened in 2020, played its first full season of varsity football last year, where the Thunderbolts rallied to win the 4A Kino Region despite starting the season 1-4. That five-game winning streak to end 2022 and the three wins this year got Nugent to the 150 milestone.

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“I actually didn’t even know he was close to it,” Colbert said. “They told me like right before the game started so it definitely helped me wanting to play better to do it for him.”

Current MM defensive coordinator Brett Darling led the program in 2020 while Nugent was still at Cienega. Then, in 2021 the Thunderbolts played a mixed varsity and JV schedule, going 3-3.

Now that that first class of Thunderbolts has grown into seniors, Mica Mountain was ready to shine, opening the season with a 34-28 win at San Tan Valley Poston Butte, then routing Gilbert Mesquite 34-12 before smashing Sabino.

“It’s been a process,” Nugent said. “Nemer Hassey put this together, Jay Campos came in, it’s been a growing thing, and we finally have a senior class.

“These kids made a choice to come to Mica Mountain four years ago and they’ve believed in everything we’ve said and they’ve grown and gotten better in the weight room and we’ve matured and now we’re a pretty good football team.”

Campos coached Sabino for 14 years, so Friday’s game had special meaning to him, too.

“It was a little bit different,” Campos said about being on the sideline across from Sabino on Friday. “I had never been opposite of Sabino in a game since I’ve been over here at Mica. But this is my fourth year at Mica now and I definitely have a lot of pride in the Carolina blue and black, so I was excited for our kids and excited for our school and I just want to keep having a good season.”

On Friday, Mica Mountain plays at Sanchez’s former school, Sunnyside and on Oct. 13, it plays at CDO, a school Nugent led and the team the Bolts upset in the season finale last year to win a region title.

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• Compiled by James Kelley Special to the Arizona Daily Star