Doug Nisenson, or Coach Nise as his players call him, comes to Chaparral from Colorado, where he spent the past six seasons as the Head Football Coach at ThunderRidge High School. In 2022 he led the Grizzlies to an 11-2 record and a 5A Quarterfinal appearance, tying for the most wins in 5A. Over the past four normal seasons, he amassed a 36-13 record. His offense featured three different quarterbacks with 2000+ yards and 20+ TDs, leading Colorado 5A in regular-season TD passes in 2021. When hired at ThunderRidge he was the youngest Head Coach in 5A at that time and brought the Grizzlies back to one of the state’s top programs. He specializes in building culture and driving connections between people in pursuit of one common goal. Culture is the edge, Culture Wins. Prior to serving as Head Coach, he spent four seasons as an assistant at ThunderRidge. 

Coach Nise’s career began in Arizona, coaching at Tempe and Sandra Day O’Connor High School, before spending two seasons in North Carolina. In all, he brings 15 years of coaching experience, serving in coordinator roles on both offense and defense. Nisenson graduated from Arizona State and later completed his master’s at Saint Joseph’s University. He is married to his wife, Jenn, and they have a daughter, Layla. He has long considered Chaparral as a premier football program in the country, and he is honored to have the opportunity to lead such a storied program.

dnisenson@susd.org 

Coach Ramirez is entering his third season as RB/TE’s coach at Chaparral and 7th overall in coaching. Ramirez spent 2 years as a WR coach at Tulsa Union High School and the last 3 years as OC/WR coach at Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City. In 6 years of coaching, he has coached many players who have broken school records in passing and receiving and have been named District WR’s of the Year.  In addition, his teams have won 2 district titles and been state runner-up finishers twice.

This is Coach Dennard’s fourth year with the Firebirds. He graduated from Brophy College Preparatory and played college football at the University of Montana. He was a Big Sky All-Conference Honoree for Defensive Backs in 2014 and has nine years of coaching experience.

Coach Dennard comes from a long line of football athletes as his father played football for ASU, and his uncle played eight years in the NFL for the LA Rams. Both his brothers have also played the sport, and he carries on the family tradition.

Coach Kohner is in his fourth year coaching at Chaparral High School but has coached football in the valley for over 20 years. Coach Kohner was instrumentally fine-tuning the prolific offense the Firebirds had last year and in his capacity this year.  He has worked and traveled around the United States working and leading various football camps as a QB and WR coach. Coach Kohner was a 3 sport All State letterman at Phoenix Christian where he once held 7 state records.

He has a passion for helping kids grow both mentally, physically and spiritually and has coached football and basketball in the valley since graduating from the WP Carey School of Business at ASU with a finance degree. He is currently a real estate developer/ entrepreneur in AZ and likes to spend his spare time golfing, coaching and spending time with his wife of 20 years, Gena. They have been blessed with 3 children, Gavin, Dylan and Victoria (Tori).

This is Coach Washington’s third year with the Firebirds. He has a nine-year history coaching high school defensive backs and wide receivers. Proudly, five of his players have received scholarships to his alma mater, the University of Hawaii, and one has gone on to play for the NFL Washington Football Team. At Hawaii, Coach played receiver, ain nd his senior y,ear he was named to the All-WAC 2nd Team. After college, Coach Washington was invited to the NFL Pittsburgh Steeler Camp and went on to play in Arena Football League for seven years.  

This is Coach Abt’s 4th year with the Chaparral.  He has coached football for the past 29 years in Arizona. He began his career at Chaparral in 1994 through 2004 and was part of three State Championships. 16 years later, he is excited to be back as a Firebird.  Coach Abt also coaches Softball at Chaparral. He has a passion for connecting with his student-athletes.  As a PE teacher at Chaparral, he is a positive role model both on and off the field.  He and his wife Debbie have 2 Chaparral graduates David 24 and Elizabeth 21.

Coach Jackimowicz is returning for his sixth season as the offensive line coach at Chaparral. Prior to coaching at Chaparral, Coach Jackimowicz coached at Island Coast High School (Fort Myers, Florida) and Wiregrass Ranch High School (Tampa, Florida). During this time, he was the Offensive line coach, tight ends coach, and run game coordinator.  Coach Jackimowicz holds a Sport Management degree from Lake Erie College. While at Lake Erie, Coach Jackimowicz was a team captain, two-time All-Conference player and an All-American at the center. During his 4 years of coaching, he has coached 4 All-District offensive linemen and helped all four move onto the college ranks, along with one tight end.

Coach Tousley has spent 14 years coaching offensive and defensive linemen at the youth and high school levels.  He played TE and DE in High School and helped lead Notre Dame HS to its 1st ever Parochial A NJ State Championship in 1983.  He has been a resident of Scottsdale for over 25 years.  He is married with two children and owns his insurance agency.  Coach Tousley believes football is the most fantastic team sport that fosters character, integrity,y, and accountability among those he mentors and coaches.

This is Steven’s 3rd year with Chaparral Football.  He played college football at Colorado Mesa University and after finishing his football career,  he interned with the strength and conditioning staff. Graduating in 2015 with a BS in Kinesiology, Steven continued his education achieving his CSCS and XPS (EXOS Performance Specialist).   

For the last six years, Steven has successfully run his own private performance training business.  He strives to be more than just a coach and to build meaningful, impactful relationships with each player. Accountability, responsibility, discipline, work ethic and time management are all pillars of his strength program and believe that attributes learned in the weight room that will help create not just better football players but better men. 

In his 6th year with Chaparral Football, Coach Springfield works with Special Teams and Specialists, runs game-day operations, and assists Coach Nise with Chaparral Football Operations. A long-time youth football coach with the Scottsdale Youth Firebirds (Jr Firebirds), John orchestrates games-day side-line operations for all three levels of Chaparral Football.