Dave Logan is accustomed to the situation he’s going to be facing this season, but with a few more complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic that have confused things.

Logan has been a head Colorado high school football coach for the past 26 years and has coached eight teams from four different schools to state championships.

He hopes to be starting his eighth season as Cherry Creek’s coach in three months after the Bruins won their second state title over the last six years with a 14-0 season during the 2019 campaign.

Logan has a simple answer when asked what he tells players returning off state title teams as they prepare for the next season as defending champs.

“That’s pretty simple, as far as I’m concerned,” said Logan, who was a basketball and football player at the University of Colorado before playing nine seasons in the National Football League. “Last year was a great year. It’s something that the team and coaches will never forget.

“But it’s over. That’s part of the progress you work on during the off season and summer as you get ready for a new year. What was accomplished last year was nice but it has no relevancy of what will go on this year.”

Logan hasn’t had much of an opportunity to deliver his thoughts to his players.

“The guidelines per our school district have not allowed for any contact from coaches in person,” explained Logan. “I’ve been in touch a little bit with texting, phone calls and our coaches have been in touch with the individual positions they coach. So we are sitting tight and see where we go from here.

“It’s not really the norm, for sure. If the world was not the way it is, we would have been working our first day (June 1) of summer camp. We had an eight-week camp, three days a week and every other Saturday, and then we give them a week off and then we start school. Obviously we will have to modify those plans this summer. We have sent our lifting routines and video stuff to the players. We’re being as proactive as we can possibly be without getting in-person interaction.”

Logan hopes the Cherry Creek school district, the state and Colorado High School Activities Association have several options for opening school and activities.

“I’m still optimistic,” said Logan who is a radio personality and the play-by-play broadcaster of Denver Broncos games. “It’s important that in as safe as possible a way we get kids back to school. What the schedule would look like, I don’t know. It’s not the same for kids trying to learn online as it is in the classroom. The extracurricular activities are important for kids.

“They have already missed out on a spring’s worth of activities. I hope in some way or fashion we will be able to get them back in school. I’m optimistic whether modified or not, that we will be able to have some sort of football season.”

Quarterback Julian Hammond III, the Centennial League Player of the Year last season in both football and basketball, and cornerback Myles Purchase head the list of top returning players for the Bruins.

“We’ve got some guys returning,” said Logan. “We had a good mixture of seniors, juniors and sophomores last year. We’ll miss two handfuls of good high school football players, but we’ve got some guys coming back, and like any other year you expect some of those young guys that weren’t tested to step up and prove what they can do.

“That’s what happened last year. We had a lot defensive kids coming back but not many offensive players. We had two starters coming back on offense so a lot of those young ones had their first opportunities and took advantage of it. This year we have more of the veterans, so to speak, coming back on offense and more holes to fill on defense. Every single year it seems to work that way and every single year presents its own set of challenges.”