Their motto says it all.
“Second to None.”
Over the past several years not only has the Chandler Unified School District distinguished themselves as the Arizona high school football gold standard torch bearer, they’ve embraced it.
With the AZHS big school season set to kick off in a matter of hours, CUSD is once again in the center of the spotlight Saturday night, with nationally ranked Chandler traveling to nationally ranked Basha ,in a re-match of last year’s Open Division Championship.
Oh, did we mention the game is televised on ESPN?
Tickets for this Saturday’s game on ESPN are almost SOLD OUT! Click the link below to purchase them now!
🔗 https://t.co/pfjocMJ1ay@MarquesReischl @BashaAthletics @bashabearnation @CUSDAthletics pic.twitter.com/WlfVtWNZ3h
— Basha Gridiron (@bashagridiron) August 26, 2026
The depth of the conference is ridiculous. Three MaxPreps Top 25 teams (Basha, Hamilton, Chandler) and last year’s defending 6A State Champion (Casteel).
“Zone Read” recently caught up with all six district head coaches and asked them,
“With the sprawl hitting the East Valley and several charter, and likely new high schools, being opened around the area, how does the CUSD continue to thrive with all their past success?
Joe Bushman – Casteel
“That’s a really good question. I think it’s going to be challenging because you have three programs [Basha, Chandler, Hamilton] at the top right now. You have us, ACP the up-and-comers, and then they just hired a great coach at Perry [Jeremy Hathcock]. The concern would be we become the SEC and beat each other up, ya’ know?
“I think that if you run a really quality program, and you dive into the youth programs…and you treat kids right, the word spreads. People want to come and be part of your [program]. We have upwards of 20-25 transfers this year. We are going to have over 50 kids in our freshmen class.
It’s finally Game Week!
The Colts take on Red Mountain on Thursday night! The matchup is this week’s @Fiesta_Bowl HS Football Showdown and will be televised live on @CW7Arizona! #PoundTheRock@JoeBushman5 @CasteelAthletic @CUSDAthletics @CrisVossPhoto @Teesmithjrone pic.twitter.com/sALldCpMux— Casteel Football (@CasteelFootball) August 24, 2026
“We’re really treating kids well and we’re diving into their academics, their character development. I think if the schools continue to do that, they’ll continue to be a draw.”
Travis Dixon – Hamilton
“I think it attracts itself. We are such an implant state, when people do their research, these schools show up. We have great coaches. Every coach does such an excellent job with their programs…we’re all equal. We all send guys to D-1 schools. We all have the jamboree. We do all these things together.
“Kids move around a lot, but for us [as a district], to stay at a high, elite level – to be like the public schools of IMG, we just need to continue to move the needle and be the pioneers of Arizona high school football like we always have been.
— Travis Dixon (@CoachDixonDBs) August 23, 2026
“CUSD is different than everybody else. No disrespect to any of the other district, but every school in this district has talent. Talent is everywhere around here and coaches are finding the talent. It’s awesome.”
Jeremy Hathcock – Perry
“I’ve got the behind-the-scenes look [coaching at other schools around the area] because we’ve all wondered that, right? It starts with the administration. [CUSD Athletic Director] Shawn Rustad does an amazing job with that. Having the ability to pay for coaches is huge. I mean, I have 28 coaches on my staff. It’s crazy.
GAME WEEK. pic.twitter.com/npDgK0mGPb
— Perry High Football (@perrypumas) August 24, 2026
“We still have the best numbers in the state, but the numbers are dwindling everywhere. The elite level of coaches [in the CUSD] help. We know the support is behind us. The top of the top, in terms of players, live in our area…the depth of talent is amazing.”
Chris McDonald – Basha
“Obviously, we’re in a really good location in the south-east Valley but, as you know, building starts happening farther and farther and farther away from metro, right? So, at some point, Chandler is going to be an older community and it’s going to grow somewhere else.
But, why I think we have a lot of success of here is because the [district] leadership. We’ve owned this time. I think [CUSD] has realized, this isn’t going to happen forever…but good leadership trickles down and good leaders hire good people under them and it just trickles down. I think all six of these schools have good high school football and that just attracts people, in general, to the district. All six are great academically and athletically.”
Jacob Rutter – Arizona College Prep
“Two things that separate the CUSD and will continue to separate the CUSD is the commitment to excellence from the top down…this district simply commits to being the best and I think the second thing is, excellence attracts excellence.
I’d put our facilities up against anyones! Can’t wait to get back to work and break them in🔥 https://t.co/I7UFPI6VPE pic.twitter.com/KkunH1z4Hz
— Jacob Rutter (@JRutt_4) July 5, 2026
“I think high achievers are attracted to other high achievers in CUSD. Whether it’s, ‘I want to go and try to win an Open State Championship with one of these schools. I want to go play for a premiere basketball team, I’ll go to this school. I want to play for a premiere baseball program, I’ll go to this team.’ CUSD is represented in all these major sports because it’s got a little bit of everything.
“At ACP, we pride ourselves on academic excellence and overall excellence. My starting quarterback has a 4.5 GPA. He’s 6’5 and he can throw the ball a country mile AND he takes AP classes. When you have that standard of excellence, it’s set from the top down and people want to be a part of it, despite schools opening up all around us. The foundation was built the right way and we continue to build on it.”
Ty Wisdom – Chandler
“[The success] is a credit to Shawn, and our administration. They continue to be extremely competitive with our facilities, and different things to stay on top of. Whether is our feeder teams using teams using our fields…they’re always trying to just think outside of the box to continue to make CUSD the most attractive place to come be a student-athlete.”
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.