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Zone Read: Re-building Chap Town

Eric Sorenson
Arizona Sports News online

Trace Carroll’s infectious smile is on full display as we enter Chaparral High’s spacious football meeting room and he proudly details the back wall collage current players can’t miss when they enter.

The colorful creation – littered with action shots of former college and NFL standouts like Taylor Lewan, Justin Dedich, Shakial Taylor, the late Craig Roh, and others –  serves as a reminder of the Firebirds’ proud football past, one which includes seven state championships.

Now the 35-year-old Carroll, entering his second season as head coach, is tasked with re-building the ‘Birds, and making Chaparral Stadium the center of Arizona high school football success in the fall.

Chap Town Born & Raised

Carroll was a “neighborhood kid.”

Growing up just five minutes down the street from the Scottsdale campus, he attended Chap games as a youth and dreamed of one day wearing the signature black, red, and gold uniforms.

“Since I was 15 years old, my goal was to be the head coach at Chaparral,” Carroll said without hesitation.

Much like his childhood best friend and teammate, Kenny Dillingham, it became apparent Carroll’s football future was in coaching, not playing. 

“Coach [Dave] Huffine, who was our offensive coordinator here when I was a player, would always come up to me and tell me I would make a great head coach because not only did I know my assignment, I knew everybody’s assignment on the field,” he said with a wry grin. “It was very rare. I played left guard. I just paid attention in meetings.”

He would land his first prep job at his at his Alma mater in 2009, at the age of 18, working under Charlie Ragle. Carroll, and Dillingham, were assistants on Chap’s freshman football staff. 

“This is the place I’ve always known…this is always home.”

Humbled but Determined

Throughout his 15-year career as an assistant, Carroll was groomed by some of the best head coaches our state has seen: Ragle and Conrad Hamilton (Chaparral), Rich Wellbrock (Mountain Pointe), and Dana Zupke (Pinnacle).  

He cut his teeth, while also coaching and mentoring some top-end talent offensive talent like Jack Miller, Tommy Christokos, Eli Sanders, Wyatt Horton, Duce Robinson and Myles Libman.

When the Chaparral head job came open following the 2024 season, Carroll applied and was interviewed.

Over time, it became apparent the hiring committee was more concerned with hiring a “big name,” than the best fit for the program. 

Carroll waited…and waited…and waited as the process dragged on for weeks, which turned into months.

He was hurt, confused, and angry.

“It did deter me at the start,” he reflected, “I was talking to [Pinnacle defensive coordinator] Dominic Robinson and he said, ‘Once you’re the man, you’re the man, and they can’t take that away from you.’

“That conversation with him is what changed my mind because I was scorned.” 

Finally, on March 31, 2025, Carroll landed his dream job and was immediately faced his first high-pressure call as a head coach. Administration gave him less than a month to interview and hire his assistants with Chap’s first practice set for April 28th..

He spoke with Ragle and other coaching mentors about the best blue print when assembling his staff.

“I wanted good people,” Carroll noted. “Good coaches, too, but good people first. We do everything together. There were some bumpy roads at the start. We had to weed out some people but we got it figured it out.”

“The Hype Train”

One trait of Carroll’s friendly, genuine personality is his ability to sell a vision with Chaparral football.

He doesn’t just think Chap will be back among the state powers, he believes it.

“We call it the hype train,” Carroll said passionately. “One of the biggest things I wanted to do was to make sure everybody knew everything that we were doing in this program. You have to attract kids to come play football. So, the best thing you need to do is be as transparent as possible. 

The buy-in from the student body and Chap Town community was immediate. This season the Birds return nine starters on offense and eight on defense.

He also prioritized re-connecting with great Firebird players from the past, something which may have been underserved by previous head coaches.

Carroll had an idea which, as he explained, came from a dream. 

A perfect bridge from the past to the present.

“We have eight NFL guys who played here so we, as coaches, get to choose those numbers,” he said. “The kids don’t get to choose them. What those kids got was a personalized message from that guy, that we did at [fall] camp, announcing that they would be presented with that jersey number.

“Like, suddenly Taylor Lewan is on the screen announcing Thomas Yamashida would be wearing 77. [Lewan] went into his playing background here, his playing background in the NFL.”

“I wanted to lean on the future that we have here but also embrace the past. I wanted our alumni to know they can come back here whenever they want.”

The Circle of Death

Chaparral, with an enrollment of just under 1,700 students, is a mid-sized 5A school which happens to sit smack dab in the middle of a handful of Scottsdale school neighbors who have consistently fielded winning progams in recent years.

Desert Mountain won the 5A State Championship. Arcadia was the 4A runner-up. Horizon won the 5A State Championship in 2021 and consistently makes deep playoff runs. Notre Dame Prep is a proven commodity and while Chaparral’s rival, Saguaro, has taken a step back, their history of successs mirrors the Firebirds.

Carroll understands the football landscape but feels something special is on the horizon for his program.

“I say to people who are [looking at Chaparral] and our current players, he noted. “‘This will be the greatest story ever told because this place should be dead.’

“We were once on top, and then we came [crashing] down. We won a state title in 2020 so it’s not that long ago. You can fall really fast but there is no train, in the state of Arizona, like the train when Chaparral is rolling. I don’t care who any of those schools around me are…we’re going to have the best swagger out of anybody.

“There’s a mystique about this place.”

Despite a 3-7 2025 with featured a bumpy start, the ‘Birds, for the most part, held their own against Desert Mountain, NDP, and Cactus Shadows.

A Year of Learning

Carroll will be the first to admit his rookie year was filled with bumps which, with a young core and new staff, was to be expected.

“I learned a ton,” he said. “It all hit me fast. There’s so much more than just football that goes into this job. It’s relationships, it’s dealing with people. That’s something I’ve always been pretty good at, but it hits you like a ton of bricks.

“I’m so blessed to be where I am. I’ll take every headache. Every parent email. Every terrible call by a referee. I’m living my dream.”

The Chap Town re-build is well underway.

 

 

 

 

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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.

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