{"id":1001631,"date":"2026-08-15T03:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001631\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T03:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:54:20","slug":"legend-football-coach-jake-heaps-suspended-placed-on-restriction-by-chsaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1001631\/","title":{"rendered":"Legend football coach Jake Heaps suspended, placed on restriction by CHSAA"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARKER \u2014 The Colorado High School Activities Association placed Legend High School football head coach Jake Heaps<\/a> on restriction after rule violations by the program over the past year.\n<\/p>\n

Heaps is suspended for the Titans\u2019 first two games of 2026, on Aug. 28 against Grandview and Sept. 4 against Chaparral. He will not be allowed to coach in the playoffs because of the restriction.\n<\/p>\n

Legend, the Class 5A runner-up in 2024, is again expected to be a serious postseason contender. Heaps\u2019 restriction \u2014 which is for a year unless CHSAA\u2019s Board of Directors<\/a> approves a formal request by the Legend administration to remove him beforehand \u2014 is a significant consequence for one of Colorado\u2019s marquee big-school teams. Once Heaps is off restriction, he\u2019ll be on probation for a year.\n<\/p>\n

Paula Hans, a spokesperson for the Douglas County School District, confirmed the punishment, which CHSAA does not make public. Heaps and Legend athletic director Dan Simington did not return requests for comment Friday morning.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c(Douglas County School District)\u00a0takes all CHSAA rules seriously and expects our coaches and staff to abide by these rules,\u201d Hans wrote in an email. \u201cWhile we evaluate how and why this happened, we will comply with the restrictions that have been imposed on the coach, including the two game suspension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heaps is in his second season at Legend. The 35-year-old is a former college and professional QB and remains a notable quarterback coach who has trained players like Russell Wilson and other pros. Heaps\u2019 staff at Legend includes Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles, who is the program\u2019s director of player development.\n<\/p>\n

Heaps\u2019 suspension and restriction came after Legend\u2019s program was placed on probation last fall for impermissible contact and got in trouble again recently for violating CHSAA\u2019s preseason practice rules.\n<\/p>\n

The impermissible contact violation occurred last season, when Legend freshman coach Michael Norton reached out to players who were not in Legend\u2019s attendance area. Per CHSAA Bylaw<\/a> 1900.5, a subsection of the rules on recruiting, \u201coutside of informational nights, individuals representing the school \u2014 other than school administrators \u2014 are prohibited from meeting\/communicating with non-prospective students\/families (as defined in 1900.11) about their school\u2019s athletic programs.\u201d\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bylaw 1900.11 defines a prospective student as \u201ca student\u00a0who attends a feeder elementary or middle school, or with those students that\u00a0have pre-registered to attend that high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norton contacted non-prospective students on social media, according to sources, and invited them to attend a Titans practice or game. Legend was placed on probation after the 2025 season ended. Norton also was placed on restriction. Legend remains on probation through the end of this season, upon which the Titans administration can make a formal request to CHSAA\u2019s Board of Directors to be removed from that status.\n<\/p>\n

Because of Legend\u2019s probationary status entering this season, when Legend practiced in full pads before the required start date for contact, the Titans were dealt a harsher punishment than the two other schools that CHSAA punished this month for the same issue.\n<\/p>\n

Those other two programs, Chatfield and Vista Ridge, were put on probation, according to sources. Chatfield head coach Kris Rosholt and Vista Ridge head coach Matt Wibbels are each suspended for one game, but neither was placed on restriction, as Heaps was.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

CHSAA Bylaw 3410.1 states that \u201cno pads or other components of regular football uniforms except shoes, jerseys and helmets may be worn by the players until one week of heat acclimatization has occurred of the formal sports season.\u201d The Heat Acclimatization Period was Aug. 3-8.\n<\/p>\n

Legend, Chatfield and Vista Ridge were running padded practices during that time, according to sources. The Heat Acclimatization Period<\/a>, which is in its second year of existence in Colorado prep football, has become common at the youth and high school levels nationwide. Safety precautions are in effect during the period to minimize the risk of heat illnesses during hot preseason practices when players are first working out in equipment.\n<\/p>\n

In addition to being a CHSAA bylaw, the Heat Acclimatization Period is also cited on the opening page of the 2026 football bulletin<\/a>, which specifically mentions the period while noting that \u201csafety information from the CHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee is included in the bulletin and should be reviewed by coaches prior to the start of the season to ensure safety precautions are followed.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Additional CHSAA rule violations by Legend and\/or any of its coaches amid its ongoing probationary period could have serious repercussions for the program. Depending on the severity of any future infraction, the Titans could be placed on restriction as a team and thus be ineligible for the playoffs.\n<\/p>\n

Last year the Titans went 10-2 under Heaps, with both losses coming by one point. Legend fell to Valor Christian 31-30 in the Class 5A quarterfinals<\/a> at EchoPark Stadium when the Eagles batted down the Titans\u2019 2-point conversion attempt on the final play. .\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not immediately clear who will be Legend\u2019s interim head coach for the first two games and in the playoffs, if Heaps remains on restriction. Heaps is eligible to return to game action on Sept. 10 for the Titans\u2019 road tilt against Cherry Creek.\n<\/p>\n

The 2026 Colorado high school football season<\/a> officially kicks off with Week 0 on Thursday, Aug. 20, on a night when reigning champion Cherry Creek plays on the road at Chatfield at 7 p.m. at Jeffco Stadium.\n<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARKER \u2014 The Colorado High School Activities Association placed Legend High School football head coach Jake Heaps on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1001632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[401118,401119,4439,1318,4440,1370,401120,1317,1315,1316,146983,288713,62,67,132,68,401121],"class_list":["post-1001631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-chatfield-high-school","tag-chsaa","tag-colorado","tag-football","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-legend-high-school","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-prep-football","tag-preps","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vista-ridge-high-school"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117097507322814431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}