After 29 years of serving as an educator, coach, and administrator for Dove Creek, there’s hardly a community member in Dove Creek over the past generation that Shane Baughman hasn’t impacted.
Coming off the football program’s first state title in 2022, Baughman brought his storied coaching career to a close, hanging up the whistle after over a decade as head coach and nearly 30 years of guiding student-athletes to success.
Baughman served the first decade of his coaching career under Dove Creek legendary coach Ken Soper, before taking the helm of the D.C. middle school program. From there, Baughman ascended to the high school head coaching position, taking his middle school offensive coordinator Jason Fury with him.
It’ll be Fury who replaces Baughman as head coach for the Bulldogs this upcoming fall, and there’s no doubt that Baughman will be keeping a keen watch from the stands.
It’s come full circle in many ways for Baughman – “This last team had quite a few of the kids whose dads I coached when I was assistant coach with Ken (Soper). It’s really fun, to have those conversations with the kids to share stories about when their parents were in school.”
Baughman came to Dove Creek in the 1990s from Durango, where his father served as wrestling coach, and only imagined that he would be in the area for a short while.
“I just fell in love with the community - Dove Creek’s a really special place,” said Baughman after his first year or two teaching in the school district, “the way that the community cares about each other, and the excitement that they have supporting each other were really appealing for me.”
Over the past dozen seasons as the high school head coach, the Bulldogs amassed a record of 63-43, but the win-loss record only tells a small part of the success that Baughman’s teams enjoyed.
The banner from Baughman’s final season – the 13-0 state title season - will hang high in the hallways of Dove Creek High School for decades to come. Yet, the idea of going out “on top” wasn’t a factor in Baughman moving away from the role.
“I’d never really thought about that until after I’d made the decision to step away,” said Baughman, “it wasn’t until afterwards when other people I’d run into asked me about it that it started to sink in.”
While Baughman will be at most of the Dove Creek athletic events this year in his role as AD, stepping away from coaching opened up some much-deserved free time. “I haven’t been able to go hunting since I took over the high school head coaching position, so I’m looking forward to that again.”
Baughman balanced serving as athletic director, principal, and football coach for the past several years, each a full-time job in its own right. “All the late nights and weekends of film-watching and prepping for games – it takes a lot of time,” added Baughman regarding his excitement to reinvest that time in different ways.
Over three decades, Baughman accrued plenty of highlight memories, including from his 25 years as the wrestling coach. “Our wrestling state title in 2007 was really special,” reflected Baughman, “the program had a great group of kids. Now, I get to see how those young men have grown into their adult lives – that whole team was so dedicated and how they’ve carried over into the rest of their lives – I’m fortunate that I got to be a part of that.”
Seeing the generational development for the recent graduates and current students at DCHS is just as important for Baughman.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the kids from this football program will also develop into prolific people – become hard-working members of the community, family men, I feel like I’m going to see the same things I saw with those groups of young athletes from early in my coaching career.”
While many people have honored Baughman’s contribution to keeping a proud high school athletic tradition at such a high level, he is quick to reflect on all the different facets of the community that helped make him successful.
“So many people factor into making these young men and women the gritty, high-character kids that they are,” said Baughman, “the entire community can celebrate in the success we’ve had – not just with the state championships – but more importantly building quality people.”
