Jason Mohns leaving Saguaro to join Kenny Dillingham's staff at Arizona State

Jason Mohns, who created a dynasty like no other football coach in the modern Arizona high school era, is leaving Scottsdale Saguaro to join new coach Kenny Dillingham's staff at Arizona State.

He told the Saguaro players just before 8 a.m. that he was departing.

Mohns thanked Sabercat Nation in a lengthy Facebook post Monday morning, expressing his gratitude to be part of the program the last 16 years that included 12 state championships. He lastly thanked his wife and two children for always being there for him and sharing in his passion.

After Saturday's Open championship loss to Chandler Basha at Sun Devil Stadium, Mohns was asked how he was able to diffuse the rumors in the last two weeks about leaving after this season to become an assistant at ASU.

"We talked about our team and what we need to do to prepare," he said. "There's been rumors every year since 2015 about me. We got pretty good about showing up and putting my best foot forward. The kids can log in (to Hudl) and see that I was putting in 11 to 12 hours of film this week. I wasn't doing anything different. I was 100% focused on these kids."

Saguaro Athletic Director Matt Harris will have the task of finding a replacement for a man who cultivated one of the most attractive high school football programs in the western United States.

"Jason Mohns is the best coach I've ever worked with or seen at the high school level," Harris said. "What he's accomplished during his legendary career at Saguaro is unparalleled. He is going to excel at the next level.

"We are all really happy and excited for Coach Mohns to have this opportunity at Arizona State University. It was an honor and blessing to work with him these last few years and his friendship means the world to me."

Mohns' name has come up in the past when it came to college coaching.

But this jump from high school to college seemed inevitable the moment Dillingham was announced as the Sun Devils' new coach. Their ties go back to youth football coaching in Scottsdale, where Mohns and Dillingham both coached the Argonauts, a Saguaro feeder program.

While attending Arizona State, where he graduated in 2004, Mohns founded the Scottsdale Argos, giving it the name in honor of his deceased father Greg Mohns, who once was an assistant coach under Frank Kush at ASU and was part of the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts' 1996 Grey Cup as assistant general manager and director of football operations.

More:Basha makes stop at the end against Saguaro's Dampier to claim first state football title

Jason Mohns led Saguaro to an AIA state-record six consecutive state championships, starting in 2013, a year after he took over the program from John Sanders.

In his 11 seasons as Saguaro's head coach, Mohns went 112-19 with seven state championships, the one in 2021 at the highest level in the Open Division. This year's team reached the Open final, before losing to Chandler Basha 28-21 in the championship game.

Mohns produced numerous major college players, including D.J. Foster, Christian Kirk and Byron Murphy Jr., who all at one time were part of the NFL Cardinals.

Mohns took his teams to nine state championship games in his last 10 years at Saguaro. The only Saguaro team that didn't get to the final during that stretch was in 2020 when the Sabercats went 5-2 and had to forfeit their first-round game to Salpointe Catholic due to positive COVID cases on the team.

This season, Saguaro started the year 2-3, before coming on strong after playing a tough schedule that included losses to New Jersey champion Bergen Catholic, Chandler and Peoria Liberty. Saguaro rallied from a 42-28 fourth-quarter deficit to shock No. 1 Liberty 43-42 in the Open Division semifinals.

Mohns joins an ASU staff that includes former Scottsdale Chaparral coach Charlie Ragle, who won three state championships in a row from 2009-11, before he became an assistant coach at the University of Arizona. Former Chaparral defensive line coach Vince Amey, who assisted Ragle last season at Idaho State, also is part of ASU's staff. Former Chandler coach Shaun Aguano, who won four state high school titles, was retained by Dillingham from ASU's previous staff.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jason Mohns leaving Saguaro to join Dillingham's Arizona State staff