Owyhee High makes its first coaching hire. It’s a state title-winning football coach.
The Treasure Valley’s newest high school announced its first coaching hire Wednesday. And he comes with a championship pedigree.
Sherm Blaser will become the first football coach at Owyhee High, a 5A program set to open in the fall as part of the West Ada School District.
Blaser comes to Owyhee from Kuna, where he took the Kavemen to new heights. In 2019, the former Boise State tight end led the long-struggling program to its first perfect season, its first 4A state championship and its first 4A Southern Idaho Conference league title.
Kuna’s only previous state title came as a 3A program in 1991.
Blaser said it was hard to leave Kuna. But he couldn’t pass up the rare opportunity to build a program from the ground up and make it his own.
“The resources are phenomenal in the West Ada School District,” Blaser said. “And being able to say this is my program from the very beginning is very intriguing for me.”
Owyhee Athletic Director Dane Roy said Blaser had all the necessary requirements on paper. But his personality won him the job.
“We’re in a unique situation where he’s going to have to literally build from nothing,” Roy said. “But his energy and excitement is infectious. After the interview, I was ready to play for him.”
The 39-year-old owns a career record of 38-35. He went 22-16 in four seasons at Kuna, including 1-6 last fall as the Kavemen returned to the 5A classification. He previously led programs at Madison and Melba.
He graduated from Eagle High in 2000. Then-coach Dirk Koetter recruited him to Boise State, and he played for Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen from 2003-07.
Owyhee will open in the fall of 2021 near the border of Ada and Canyon counties as West Ada’s sixth high school in Idaho’s largest classification (5A).
It will draw students largely from Rocky Mountain’s and Eagle’s current boundaries, as well as some from Meridian’s. Juniors at those schools can opt to finish their senior year there or attend the new school.
“The biggest challenge is melding the kids coming from different schools, different backgrounds, different programs, and getting them to come together as one,” Blaser said. “We’re Owyhee. We’re not X school or Y school. We’re us.”
Owyhee’s addition will expand the 5A Southern Idaho Conference to 12 teams. The league will split into two divisions for football — the Foothills and the River. Owyhee will play in the River Division with Mountain View, Centennial, Borah, Capital and Kuna.
