Head Coach-Ryan Marini
Coach Marini is excited to be heading into his 10th year of being the head coach at Denver South. He will also serve as defensive coordinator for the Ravens. In the past 9 years, under Coach Marini’s direction, the program has gone 49-36, including 3 league championships and 4 state playoff appearances. Coach Marini is in his 25th year of teaching social studies in Denver Public Schools, the past 14 years at Denver South High School the previous 10 years at Abraham Lincoln High School. He has coached football at a plethora of schools, including Lincoln, Heritage, Cherry Creek, Littleton, and Denver South. In addition to football, he coached 8 years as an assistant basketball coach at Lincoln during their two state championships (2007 & 2008). Coach Marini played strong safety at Heritage High School (Class of ’98) and at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA (National Playoff Qualifier, 1999). He would like to thank his wife Christy (teacher at Campus Middle School) for her role as Director of On-field Technology and generally putting up with his nonsense.
Varsity Offensive Coordinator-Isaiah Sanchez
Coach Sanchez stepped on the football field at the age of 7 and fell in love with every aspect of the game and has been involved in football ever since. He played high school football at Bear Creek High in Lakewood, CO. His first coaching experience was as a flag football head coach with i9 sports, where he was part of back to back championship seasons. He then got the chance to be an assistant coach with the team he grew up playing for the Denver P.A.L. Redskins. He helped out with two different age groups this past season, 6-8 yr olds and as well as 12-14 yr olds. He will be Offensive Coordinator this upcoming season, his 8th for the Denver South Ravens.
Special Teams Coord./Varsity Backs Coach-Kyle Baker
Originally from Cocoa, FL this is Coach Baker’s 19th year of coaching varsity football in Central Florida and Colorado. Coach Baker spent the first half of his coaching career at schools such as Jones High School(Orlando) and Wekiva High School(Apopka) at many different positions until becoming an Offensive Coordinator. He has been apart of the South football program for 9 years with a short stint at Arvada West High in 2025. He originally came to the South High football program in Coach Marini’s first year as Head Coach and is excited to build on the decade long legacy of the Denver South Ravens.
Varsity DB Coach/Head JV Coach-Malcolm Wright
Coach Wright is excited to return to his alma mater as a coach, Coaching has always been a passion for him, coaching for him is about building relationships, developing young people, and creating an environment where student-athletes can grow both on and off the field/court, coach played the game of football fast and fearless, he strives for his players to do the same!
Varsity ILB Coach-Alvaro Marquez
Coach Marquez enters his 3rd season coaching inside linebackers at Denver South and 6th season coaching football after coaching for two years at Abraham Lincoln High School and one year in Greeley coaching 5th graders. He was born and raised in Denver where he played football and ran track in High School. He earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration at The University of Northern Colorado and currently owns and runs a construction business in concrete.
Varsity O-Line Coach-Nate Richey
Coach Richey is going into his 3rd season coaching at South HS and will be coaching the Varsity OL for the second year in a row. He is currently a high school teacher at South, and has been teaching there for 4 years now. Coach Richey is originally from Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Harding University 4 years ago, where he also played football. Coach is excited about joining the South football coaching staff and making connections with our athletes, both on and off the field.
Varsity OLB Coach-Zian Lusero
Coach Z (Zian) will be entering his 2nd season with the Ravens as a Varsity outside linebacker coach. Born and raised in Denver, a South HS graduate himself. He works in DPS for Denver Kids, supporting middle schoolers as an advisor. Coach Z graduated from Lewis and Clark College where he played football and began his coaching career. Coaching as a wide receiver assistant coach for the football team and as the defensive coordinator for the women’s lacrosse team. Coach Z is excited to mentor and coach our athletes on and off the field!
Varsity QB Coach-Ben Shumacher
Coach “Shoe” Schumacher enters his first season with the Denver South football program as Varsity Quarterbacks Coach and JV Offensive Coordinator. A Boulder native and Fairview High School graduate where Coach Schumacher played quarterback before continuing his playing career at Colorado State University. Coach Shoe is thrilled to join the Ravens coaching staff and looks forward to challenging all student-athletes to be the best version of themselves in all walks of life.
Varsity D-Line Coach-Allen Koncsik
Coach K will be entering his first year coaching with the Ravens. Allen is a South and CU grad who is working on his masters at CU. Allen will be entering his second year working with the CU football team where he assists the Defensive Line unit. In his first year he worked with Defensive Line coaches Warren Sapp and Domata Peko (Steelers). Allen is extremely eager and excited to join the team this season and couldn’t be happier to be back with the Ravens.
Freshman Head Coach-Justin Jones
Coach (Just) Jones will be entering his 3rd season at South HS as a coach with the freshmen team. Born and raised in Denver he is a Denver South graduate himself. Before coaching at South, he was a legendary youth coach for 9 years. Coaching kids as young as 4 from flag football up until 7th grade tackle. Coach Jones originally got his start at South by volunteering for Futures Football back in 2022 and has just completed his 5th season with the program. Coach is ecstatic about being back and looking forward to his 1st season as Freshmen Head Coach.
Freshman Offensive Coord.-Austin Meeler
Coach Meeler is excited to be the head freshman coach this year at South He coached at South during Coach Marini’s inaugural season as head coach, took some time off, and then returned 3 years ago. Prior to coaching at Denver South, coach Meeler was the head freshman coach at Littleton HS for 8 seasons. In addition to coaching football, coach Meeler has been coaching middle school basketball at Slavens K-8 for the past 9 years where he also teaches 3rd grade. Before coaching, Meeler played quarterback and defensive back at Palmer HS in Colorado Springs before playing quarterback at Adams State and Howard Payne University. Go Ravens!
Freshman O-Line Coach-David Ortiz
Coach (Davey) Ortiz will be entering his 2nd year coaching at South HS and will be coaching Freshman O-Line and D-Line. He was raised in Denver and is a South Alumni where he ran track, wrestled, and played football. He is excited to continue to work and connect with young athletes, and develop the newest group of South Ravens!
Freshman Asst. Coach-Jarvis Gullatt
A very well respected mountain Lions youth football coach and a graduate of Texarkana Texas High School Coach Gullatt has coached at numerous football stops inlcuding Kilgore College, Thompson Valley, Littleton and Highlands Ranch. He is eager and excited to be apart of the Denver South Ravens Football. His journey in football coaching is still continuing, and he remains committed to inspiring the next generation of players to dream big, work hard, and never give up. Coach Gullatt believes football is not just a game — it is a passion, a responsibility, and a lifelong mission.