The Kansas Shrine Bowl Board of Directors is excited to announce the selection of the 2023 head coaches. Hays’ Tony Crough and Blue Valley Northwest’s Clint Rider will serve as the head coaches for the 50th Kansas Shrine Bowl Presented by Mammoth, to be held Saturday, July 15th at Lewis Field Stadium in Hays, Kansas. Crough will lead the West team and Rider the East team. The head coaches are selected by a vote of the previous games staff, including fellow coaches, camp directors, trainers, and managers.
Tony Crough, a former Shrine Bowl player on the 1999 West team, will serve as the 2023 West Head Coach representing Hays High School. Crough served as an assistant on the Shrine Bowl staff in 2022. Crough is in his 19th year coaching high school football and fifth year as the Head Coach at Hays High, where he was named the 2020 WAC Coach of the Year and has compiled a 20-18 record entering the 2022 season. As a player for Garden City High School, Crough was selected to play in the 1999 Kansas Shrine Bowl where he helped lead the West to a 28-21 victory. Crough played collegiately at Fort Hays State University, where he earned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Honorable Mention honors following his senior season in 2003. A native of Garden City, Crough now resides in Hays with his wife Chrisy and their three children, Carson, Colt and Camryn.
“I am honored and excited to be named the Head Coach in this great game. I was fortunate enough to play in the game in 1999 and enjoyed the experience so much,” said Coach Crough. “To come full circle and be chosen as the Head Coach is a special moment in my life.”
Clint Rider returns to the Shrine Bowl coaching staff as the East Head Coach. Rider previously served on the Shrine Bowl staff as an assistant for the West in 2017 and the East in 2022. Rider is in his 16th season coaching football and his sixth as the Head Coach at Blue Valley Northwest, where he led the Huskies to a 12-1 record and the 2021 6A State Championship. Following the 2021 season, Coach Rider earned numerous Coach of the Year honors including the Kansas City Chiefs Eric Driskell Award, given to the top coach in the state of Kansas. Rider’s career record at Blue Valley Northwest is 21-26 entering the 2022 season. Coach Rider is a graduate of Cherokee-Southeast High School and Pittsburg State University. Rider and his wife Michelle currently reside in Olathe with their daughter Reese and son Bo.
“I am honored to serve as a Kansas Shrine Bowl Head Coach. It is a first-class event organized by genuinely, selfless individuals who care for youth in need and promote the great game of football,” said Coach Rider. “This opportunity is a reflection of the efforts of our players, staff, and BVNW community, and I am truly grateful. Thank you to my wife and family who sacrifice so much to allow me to work with young people every day.”
The Kansas Shrine Bowl is an all-star high school senior, East vs. West, football game put on each year by the Kansas Shrine. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit charity that produces annual events and related activities, with net proceeds benefiting Shriners Children’s. The game has been played throughout Kansas each summer for 49 years at host cities across Kansas and will return to Hays for the fifth time on Saturday, July 15, 2023 at Lewis Field Stadium on the campus of Fort Hays State University. Hays previously hosted the Kansas Shrine Bowl in 1997, 2007, 2011 and most recently in 2015.
