This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
South Jordan • There are different ways to measure the success of a high school football coach.
Few could argue with Bingham coach Dave Peck's win-loss record in his 31 years, 21 as a head coach. The Miners have made it to the semifinals in 10 of his 15 seasons with the team. In the past 10 years, Bingham's worst record was 9-3. His teams have earned four state championships going into Friday's Class 5A state title game against American Fork at Rice-Eccles Stadium. There were only two years when the Miners failed to win at least one state game.
There was a time when Bingham was known primarily as a basketball and baseball powerhouse with football as an afterthought.
"It's changed now," Peck said. "We have a national reputation. Did I ever feel like we could build it? One hundred percent yes. But to be where it is at, I never imagined we could have national notoriety. We ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation this year. Our only loss came to Bishop Gorman, the No. 1 team in the nation, 23-20 in overtime at their place. There is Lone Peak basketball and Bingham football. People know us on a national level."
The change may have been solidified in 2006 when Peck coached Bingham to its first state football championship in 60 years.
That year, he bused his team up to the old high school field in Copperton the night before the state title. Concrete bleachers were still in place, though weeds covered the old field. It was pitch black. But the kids did the Haka dance, the loudest and most intense he had ever heard.
In many ways, the 2014 team is much like Peck's four other state champions. While there are talented players such as defender Daniel Langi, kicker Chayden Johnston, all-purpose back Kade Cloward, receiver Michael Green and injured quarterback Kyle Gearig, the Miners feature a stubborn defense and great depth. They are a strong team with few weaknesses.
"This year's team is a lot like last year's team," said Peck. "We have great senior leadership, and nobody cares who gets the credit. You just don't get that very often. We learned that from last year. We had injuries, and it didn't matter. The kids just stepped it up. It's been kind of the same way this year."
The ultimate leader
Brighton coach Ryan Bullett, who worked with Peck at Cyprus in 1994 and 1995 and lost to the Miners in the state championship game a year ago, said Peck is all about making kids accountable.
"He's not afraid to make the best player on the team the same as the last kid on the team," Bullett said. "They are all accountable. ... You can tell that's why the kids play hard. ... He is all business. He makes the kids all work hard and expects everybody to do it the right way. There are no shortcuts."
Bullet said Bingham beats nearly everybody it plays with its depth.
"That wears kids down physically," the Brighton coach said. "A lot of teams play them good for a half, but Bingham is rotating in two and three different receivers every play."
The Miners also possess an amazing defense, the area Peck directly supervises. This year's team has recorded three shutouts and has given up a touchdown or less in eight games. Only Jordan and Bishop Gorman managed to score more than 20 points on them.
John Lambourne, who was head coach at Hunter when Peck was his assistant and is now the Miners' longtime offensive coordinator, calls Peck the ultimate leader.
"We've made a good team, and a good team starts with a good leader," Lambourne said. "He has led. ... Our head coach works as hard as any head coach, if not more. It's a continuous thing. As far as on-field time, we average less time than a lot of schools, but our film work and preparation is pretty darn extensive. Dave, as the head coach, has never skirted that work."
Asked how many hours a day he puts in during football season, Peck just laughed. He figures he watches 12 hours a week of film on the weekends and in the morning. He freely gives out his phone number, and on most nights, he converses with parents, players and reporters.
Veterinarian turned coach
Parents such as Lori Van Valkenburg, whose sons A.J. and Johnny played for Peck and who served as a team mom for seven years, said athletes at Bingham learn about more than just football.
She told stories of how Peck required every player to sign a code of conduct. Her sons framed theirs and hung it in their room as a reminder. The coach required all of his athletes to have at least a 2.5 grade point average to participate. There were strict policies against using drugs and alcohol, not only during the season, but year-round. Star players who violated the rules did not play. Boys were taught to respect the young women who served as student managers. Cussing was punished with push-ups. Peck's assistants marvel that they have never heard him swear.
Peck's trip to the top of Utah high school football world was a long one.
He graduated in 1979 from Cyprus High, where he was an all-state football and baseball player and the Pirates' leading scorer in basketball. He was recruited to Southern Utah to play football and studied to become a veterinarian. But, after two years, in order to pursue that degree, he would have had to transfer. He was liking football, so he decided to coach.
Peck married his wife, Christy, his senior year of college, and SUU official Steve Lunt told him that Grace, Idaho, was looking for a good young coach. So, when the football season ended, the Pecks drove just across the Utah border to Grace to interview and he was hired as head track coach and a football and basketball assistant.
He was so successful that first year that he was offered the athletic director and head football job the next year.
Return to Utah
But he always planned to return to Utah. Much to his surprise, the chance came quickly. His grandparents lived in Sanpete County, and the head football coaching job opened at North Sanpete. He accepted, but to this day, he says telling the kids at Grace he was leaving was among the toughest things he ever did.
At North Sanpete, the then-22-year-old coach didn't even have a playbook and supervised assistants nearly twice his age. He drew up plays by hand. But, at the end of his first year, the Hawks won their first region football title.
Larger schools started to call.
So he came to Bingham as a defensive coordinator. In four years, the team won few games. Then he quit coaching to work with his dad in a family parking-lot striping business. He was earning more money and had more time. But in the back of his mind, he knew he had to get back into teaching and coaching.
He took a defensive coordinating job at Hunter before returning to Cyprus as head coach for five years. He took the Bingham job 15 years ago.
Peck is known for his off-season weight lifting program, something he thinks helps his players' work ethic.
Bingham's football future looks bright. The sophomore and JV teams are unbeaten and the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders won Little League championships. The Miners will start five sophomores Friday — two of whom have already offers from Division I programs.
But football will not be Peck's only legacy at Bingham.
"You see the kids serving in the community," said Val Valkenburg. "They are better students, better brothers, better sons and better young men because of the program."
Twitter @tribtomwharton Dave
Dave Peck by the numbers
• Record as a Utah high school coach (North Sanpete, Cyprus, Bingham) is 181-70. At Bingham in 15 years, he is 154-36 with a 33-10 playoff record.
• Peck is 4-1 in state championship games.
• His 181 wins place him ninth among Utah coaches. He is 17th in winning percentage.
• Among active coaches (five-year minimum), he is second in winning percentage, at .811.
• Peck is third in playoff victories behind Roger Dupaix and Al Marshall, and seventh in playoff games coached.
• He is tied for 12th in championships won (four).
Source: George Felt —
5A football championship
P Bingham vs. American Fork
Friday, 2:30 p.m.
At Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV • KJZZ