THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, July 14, 2016

A few thoughts after updating our list of high school fall sports coaches:

With Van Troxel’s resignation as Lake City football coach, a post he held since starting the program in 1994, Shawn Amos of Coeur d’Alene is the dean of area football coaches. He’ll start his 20th season at the Vikings’ helm this fall.

Also, with Troxel gone at Lake City, and the T-Wolves also with new head coaches in volleyball and boys soccer, the longest-tenured fall sports coach is now girls soccer Matt Ruchti, who will be in his 14th season. The second-longest fall sports coach at Lake City is cross country coach Heather Harmon-Reed, entering her sixth season.

In soccer, the longest-tenured coach in the area is Mario Maddy, preparing for his 21st season as Lakeland girls coach. The next longest tenured girls soccer coach in the area is Steve Michael of Timberlake, who started the Tigers program, and is in his ninth season.

The longest-tenured boys soccer coach in the area is Chris Renaldo of St. Maries, beginning his 18th season.

In volleyball, the dean (dean-ette?) of coaches remains Michelle Garwood of Timberlake, entering her 19th season, who started the Tigers program in 1998.

ANOTHER YEAR, another list.

Last year, our very own Dale Nosworthy, co-owner of the popular Nosworthy’s Hall of Fame restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, was ranked No. 2 on a list of the top tight ends in University of Utah history by the Deseret News newspaper of Salt Lake City, as compiled by Jay Yeomans, a freelancer in the area and owner of a sports chat website (jmoneysports.com).

Yeomans came out with another list earlier this month, selecting the all-time Ute football team. He named two starting tight ends, one of which was Nosworthy, who played at Utah from 1968-70.

Nosworthy’s pass-catching numbers at Utah were modest — he had 49 receptions for 659 yards and four touchdowns.

But what stood out to Yeomans was Nosworthy was the only Ute tight end to be named first-team all-conference twice.

The other starting tight end was Dennis Smith (1986-89), who had 156 catches for 2,168 yards and 24 touchdowns in his Ute career.

One of the two backup tight ends listed was Marv Fleming (1960-62), who caught 35 passes for 598 yards and six touchdowns as a Ute. He is more well known for going on to play on four Super Bowl champions, but this team was selected based only on what the players did while at Utah.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.