Curt LeBlanc has spent his life dedicating himself to coaching, teaching and fatherhood, and he has no plans on giving up at Coronado.

LeBlanc, who just finished his second year as the head coach of the Dons, has won only two games at Coronado, but his impact on the school has been largely positive.

Assistant coach Rick Benjamin, who left a head coaching job on one of the state’s Indian reservations to work for LeBlanc, believes that they are already starting to change the culture at Coronado.

“It’s getting the kids to understand how football translates to real life,” Benjamin said. “I think we’ve done a good job with that so far.”

While the team has struggled, LeBlanc’s dedication to improving the program has never wavered. LeBlanc said that during the hiring process he was adamant that he was going to be at Coronado for a while. He made sure that everyone at the school knew that his goal was to turn Coronado into a proud football school.

LeBlanc’s daughter, Elle LeBlanc, reiterated that fact.                                                                   

“I can’t see him taking another job,” Elle LeBlanc said. “I think this is his last.”

Elle said with great pride that her dad taught her that dedication is everything. LeBlanc has continuously dedicated himself to football for all of his 25 years as a coach. Elle said that her father was constantly watching film and was very serious about “the playbook” as she was growing up.  

LeBlanc has not only been dedicated to the game, but also to his players. Elle said that it was always important to LeBlanc that the players know that he cares about them. LeBlanc would go to his players' other sporting events and would try to maintain a relationship with them all year round. He also consistently made sure they were keeping their grades up. As a teacher, how could he not?

LeBlanc has been teaching just as long as he’s been coaching, and actually got his first coaching gig by volunteering at his school. This eventually turned into a full-blown career. LeBlanc’s first major coaching job was offensive coordinator at Payson High School. In his last year at Payson, his offense helped Payson end Blue Ridge’s 62-game winning streak in the state championship game. That lead LeBlanc to Bullhead City, where he got his first head coaching job at River Valley High School. Two years later, he was the head coach at Queen Creek High School.

After nine years at Queen Creek, LeBlanc was let go by the school. The team was playoff-eligible all nine years LeBlanc was coaching, but as he put it, “I could not make it out of the second round.”

LeBlanc took a year off after Queen Creek. He landed another teaching job and decided to dedicate himself to the classroom. But hardly a year later, he wanted back in.

“If I wanted to do it again I had to do it right,” LeBlanc said on his return to coaching.

LeBlanc knew he wanted to be a head coach, but he wanted a different challenge. Coronado was the best fit.

LeBlanc loved the idea of committing himself to a program that he could build up. Coronado being a Title 1 school also stood out to LeBlanc. He said that the kids in a Title 1 school will show a little less entitlement and more grit on the field.

As LeBlanc has gone through this career progression, one thing that’s stayed constant is math. LeBlanc is currently a geometry teacher at Coronado and has taught math throughout his career. He found math easy in high school and was thrilled at the idea of getting to spend more time with family, especially his daughter.

LeBlanc has remained committed to teaching and coaching throughout all these years, and it’s come somewhat easy because, according to him, they’re not all that different.

“It’s all teaching in some capacity,” LeBlanc said. “It’s four walls versus a gridiron, but it’s all teaching. They all have their lessons and their tests.”

LeBlanc was always dedicated to his teaching and coaching, but his dedication to his daughter was insurmountable. He shared numerous stories of how he would bring Elle with him to practices dressed in team colors or how she would go with him to team meetings. LeBlanc made sure he could spend as much time with Elle as possible, whether it be on the field, at practice or at a quarterback camp in Colorado.

Dedication has been the key to all of LeBlanc’s successes throughout his career. Long coaching gigs at Payson and Queen Creek show that he has never been one to give up and try to find something better.

It looks to be the same way at Coronado. The team hasn’t been winning a lot of games, but the program can already be seen changing for the better. Fans in Scottsdale should be on the lookout for some more wins because LeBlanc has made it clear.

“I’m not going anywhere.”