Park City High Football Coach Leaves After Decade for Brighton High

Josh Montzingo announced his resignation as Park City High School's head football coach this week, ending a tenure that began in 2016 and produced 82 wins, four regional championships and three state playoff appearances at Rice-Eccles Stadium. He will take over as head coach at Brighton High School, moving up to a 5A program after spending the last several years leading Park City's 4A Miners.

The numbers Montzingo leaves behind are among the strongest in Park City football history. Forty-five of his players went on to play collegiate football, and his teams won four regional titles while reaching the state playoffs three times. KPCW described him as one of the most successful coaches in Miners history.

Montzingo first arrived in Park City in 2012 from Nebraska, where he had coached and taught for 13 years. The family relocated to Utah when his wife, Candice Montzingo, began her career as a cardiac anesthesiologist at the University of Utah. He was hired at Park City High as an assistant coach and after three years stepped into the head coaching role, taking over in 2016. During his time leading the program, he also helped the Miners navigate a classification jump from 3A to 5A, before the school was reclassified from 5A to 4A during the 2023-2024 school year.

The Brighton opening emerged after Casey Sutera left following the 2025 season to become head coach at Corner Canyon. Montzingo pursued the position and has already attended a meet-and-greet with the Brighton community.

"It's 5A ball, so it's a step up as far as a division of football," Montzingo said. "This was just kind of a point where I have enough years left to keep going and if I was going to do it, this would be the year to do it."

He said he intends to build on what previous coaches established at Brighton rather than overhauling the program from scratch. "I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity and excited to get to work, get to know everybody and become a part of the community," Montzingo said. "I'm going to earn their trust, and we're going to work hard to hopefully develop a strong program and keep continuing to build off the foundation that's already been built by a couple of great coaches before myself. I'll do my share and maybe bring my own flavor and spin to it, but mostly keep loving the kids and keep coaching and become a part of the community over time."

Former Miner Eli Alford, who played under Montzingo during his early years with the program, credited that player-centered approach as the defining quality of his coaching. "He would coach every player specific to what their needs are," Alford said. "I think people responded so well to Montzingo because we all knew that he cared for us more than just as a football player. He really, truly cared for us as people."

Montzingo also resigned from his physical education teaching position at Park City High after the third academic quarter ended and will finish the current school year teaching PE at Brighton. No replacement has been named for the head coaching vacancy at Park City.

Montzingo's own path to football was anything but conventional. His father would not allow him to play in youth leagues, meaning he first suited up as a high school freshman with no prior experience. "Didn't know anything, trying to figure out how to put the pads in the pants and which way was up and down, and little undersized as a freshman," he said. "It was a big awakening, but also sparked a passion in me." He played in college and moved directly into coaching after graduating, spending 13 years teaching and coaching in Nebraska before the move to Utah changed his trajectory a second time.