Coach Spotlight – Part 3

This week we’ll take a closer look at some of our outstanding visiting coaches. These are truly special people for volunteering their time and effort to come out and help us out. We definitely appreciate all that you do!

The Utah Falconz Defensive Coordinator, Mike Ramos - Now entering his 5th year of coaching women's football, Coach Ramos' coaching background also includes coaching athletes from little league to high school.

Coach Ramos' style employs a variety of defenses and schemes.  He believes in having a defense which is smart enough and flexible enough to adapt quickly.  His defensive philosophy preaches hard-hitting, and team-tackling.  He also puts an emphasis on take-aways,  stressing to his players that a game-changing takeaway is possible on every play.

This style can be seen in his 2014 Utah Falconz Defense, which scored more points than it gave up.  According to Ramos, this team ranks among his elite.

"Our defense scored more points than we gave up," Ramos says, "and we did it with our 2nd- and 3rd teams playing a majority of the game. That means we had total team buy-in.  I'm really proud of that.  It's a testament to the defensive coaches, but also the players.  They did a great job of being aggressive, and having a nose for the end zone."

Coach Ramos also takes great pride in helping to provide instruction to all football players, even those playing for other teams.

Says Ramos, "I've got former players who play for other teams, and they ask me for tips, or feedback on their play.  Of course I'm going to accommodate.  I don't care who you play for, if people want to learn football, I'm willing to help."

Coach Ramos is married with three children, and lives in Salt Lake City.

Coach Rick Rasmussen is the Head Coach of the newly formed Utah Falconz.  He is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and a former F16 pilot.  Rick entered into law enforcement and served 22 years.  Rick coached for 14 years at the high school level all in the 5A classification, the largest in Utah, and this upcoming season will be his 4th coaching women's football.

(This is Mark Ring speaking): Coach Rasmussen is a very humble coach who failed to mention that the Falconz were undefeated in their first year, and that if you saw any film on them, you saw a very fine-tuned machine in place on both sides of the ball. Whereas many of the coaches in camp are spread passing types, Coach Rick will give others a keen insight into the option world. His views on leadership and team building are also worth the price of admission. We are very fortunate to have him with us!

On a sad note, Coach Lori Locust informed me today that she wouldn’t be able to make the camp due to business commitments. Coach Lo has been a huge supporter of the camp, and I know it is breaking her heart to miss this one. If you’ve seen her Facebook posts, you know she was looking forward to it. So we’ll get her out here next year.

In the meantime, Coach Mike Suggett will shift over to take a lot of the defensive line work. In that capacity, he is a very aggressive coach and will get the DL going upfield towards the QB in a hurry. I don’t see any letdown at that position at all.

Remember, please take a look at our Facebook event page and let us know you’re coming! We’re at 57 coaches and players right now, and with at least a couple of teams having tryouts before the camp starts, I expect that number to increase.