Dylan Wilhelm is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover San Tan Charter for AZPreps365.com

Kerry Taylor has always known what it takes to be successful in football.

A Chandler native, Taylor attended Hamilton High, then played for Dennis Erickson at Arizona State University. While at ASU, Taylor tallied over 1,400 receiving yards and had seven receiving touchdowns across three seasons.

Taylor went undrafted out of college but was signed by Green Bay as a free agent. Following a full preseason with the Packers, he was released, and he bounced around a few practice squads before landing right back home in Arizona.

Taylor was in the Valley for around a year, before being snagged off the practice squad by the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2013, Taylor had his best NFL season with Jacksonville, catching 19 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown.

Taylor has been to the highest levels of the game. Now, still at just 31 years old, it’s about passing on what he has learned to young athletes right back at home.

Taylor is currently the head football coach at San Tan Charter, a school in Gilbert. In his first year with the Roadrunners, he is looking to build a culture of winning and excellence to put San Tan on the map.

Taylor has had success building a winning culture in a short time, leading Arcadia High to two consecutive 6-4 seasons after the team had lost 16 straight games prior to his arrival.

His time at Arcadia, and specifically his departure, has helped lead him to San Tan.

“I had the community support, I had the player support, but I didn’t have the administration support,” he said of his experiences at Arcadia. “I’m trying to build a winning culture, a winning program, and I felt like I needed to do that at a school that has the same values and values the game of football the same way that I do.”

In the middle of his two seasons at Arcadia, AIA allegations were made against the program, and Taylor was fired for a short period of time. 

An outpour of community and team support brought Taylor back to Arcadia for the 2019 season.

“The players and parents in the community that understood what needed to be done understood that I was bringing proper discipline to the football program,” he said. “Those are the ones that fought hard for me to get back there.”

Now at San Tan, Taylor looks to build a program the way he believes it should be done and he has the full backing of Dr. Kristofer Sippel, the school’s CEO and Superintendent, and Principal Brandon Tauscher.

“Anytime you change administration, they always want to bring in their own guys,” Dr. Sippel said, referencing San Tan’s principal change.

“I knew that football was important here, I knew that I could come in and bring the right leadership to the program, that I could run a top program and get these kids noticed and get them to the next level,” Taylor said of San Tan.

“Coming in and trying to transition this San Tan team from the CAA (Canyon Athletic Association) to the AIA, I like to be in situations where I’m able to build something and really put my mark on it.”

In terms of who he is as a coach, Taylor remembers one of his coaches at the highest level who stuck out.

“Bruce Arians is my favorite coach of all time, being strict but also being a players’ coach the way he gets his message across to players and how they respond,” Taylor said of the former Arizona Cardinals coach who now heads up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“The swagger that he coaches with and brings into his players is a big reason I wanted to coach, I kind of model what I do after what he does.”

Arians isn’t the only Super Bowl-winning coach that Taylor was able to learn under during his time in the NFL.

“Coach (Bill) Belichick is a Hall of Famer. You don’t just learn some of these things by searching on Google,.” Taylor said. “I was in those meeting rooms, I got to see it and experience it first hand, and I think those experiences have helped mold me as a coach.”

While Taylor is currently enjoying life as a high school coach, he also has experience at the collegiate ranks, spending time on the Oregon State coaching staff.

A return to the higher levels of the sport is not out of the question.

“If I ever have the chance to go back to the college level or professional level, it would have to be with a staff that I trust 100 percent … with a culture I believe in,” he said.

For now, students at San Tan are excited to learn from someone who has been in their shoes and has climbed the ladder to success.

In his first season, the Roadrunners finished 3-4 and made the playoffs, losing their first playoff game to Scottsdale Christian Academy.