SM North hires Zach Rampy to lead football team

After a month of disorder caused by unexpected resignations, the picture of what Sunflower League football will look like next fall has begun to clear.

Shawnee Mission North announced Tuesday that former Simone Award winner and Blue Valley quarterback Zach Rampy will become the Indians’ new coach. The move came days after his father, former Blue Valley coach Steve Rampy, accepted the same job at Lawrence.

Zach Rampy replaces Ben Bartlett, who resigned in early December after four years leading SM North.

Steve Rampy will replace the retiring Dirk Wedd.

“Zach is a great coach and a great person,” SM North athletic director Kent Glaser said in a statement provided to The Star. “He has the intangibles, knowledge and work ethic that will allow him to develop successful players, on and off the field. We are looking forward to the football program’s continued success and development under the leadership of coach Rampy.”

Zach Rampy, who won the Class 5A state championship at Blue Valley in 2006, was previously offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Butler County Community College for two seasons. He joined the faculty at SM North this year and has since served as an assistant coach.

Steve Rampy also most recently coached on the college level. After leaving Blue Valley — where he won four Class 5A titles during a 25-year tenure — at the end of the 2009 season, he became offensive coordinator at Pittsburg State.

He inherits a Lawrence team that Wedd led to a 104-87 record over 19 seasons.

Sunflower League football took a hit after this season ended. Although Wedd had announced his intention to retire at the beginning of the school year, the resignations of Shawnee Mission East coach Dustin Delaney and Gardner Edgerton coach Marvin Diener caused ripples.

Delaney had just led SM East to a 9-2 finish and the second round of the Class 6A playoffs. In his five years as head coach, the Lancers won a state title and put together a 52-8 record. But he told the Shawnee Mission Post that he was frustrated by the way the school district handled athletic programs and he did not want to continue to “be part of that.”

Diener announced his resignation days after Delaney stepped down in mid-November. Diener told the Gardner News he intended to retire at the end of the school year. He had been coach for 12 seasons at Gardner Edgerton, which played its final season in the Eastern Kansas League this year and will join the Sunflower League next year.

Those positions remain vacant.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "SM North hires Zach Rampy to lead football team."