Former NFL Players Coach Iowa High School Football

PAUL YEAGER: Welcome to our coverage of the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s sports and activities on Iowa PBS. I'm Paul Yeager.

Teamwork, discipline, communication, and perseverance are just a handful of life lessons at the fingertips of young men who grow up around the game of football.

For those skilled enough to move up from high school to college, then to the NFL, returning to bask in the Friday night lights is a full-circle opportunity to impart wisdom on the gridiron’s next generation.

SCOTT CHANDLER / HEAD COACH – IOWA CITY LIBERTY LIGHTNING: Come on now! We got to be focused! We got to bring energy! Let's go!

YEAGER: Iowa City Liberty Lightning head coach Scott Chandler earned a spot in Iowans’ hearts playing tight end at nearby Kinnick Stadium. Following a nine-year NFL career—being around some of pro football's all-time greats—he returned to the Hawkeye State as a high school coach.

CHANDLER: Scouts, get lined up! Let's go, let's go, let's go!

I love, you know, that there's not a ton of people. I haven’t hit traffic in a long time. Growing up in Dallas–Fort Worth, traffic is a real thing. So, I love the laid-back lifestyle here—and the people. Football gave me a lot...

…and so I was really just looking to be able to give back to our community. And the more I got involved, the more I wanted to get involved.

CHANDLER: To the dome!

YEAGER: Now in his second season at the helm and fifth here overall, Chandler has watched fan support ramp up steadily, leading to his Bolts’ first trip to the playoffs last year. But he says there's more work to do.

CHANDLER: We can be the best football team—not just in the area, not just on the eastern side of the state, ok? But we have to come every single day with that purpose.

REECE RETTIG / SENIOR QUARTERBACK – IOWA CITY LIBERTY LIGHTNING: We're confident we have the best coaching staff in the state. Chandler's knowledge about the game is just really helpful. I mean, we're confident in our play calls, and I think being confident in your coaching allows you to just play the game the way you want it.

CHANDLER: Playing at the highest level, you're able to react fast. Going back to high school from the NFL, the game's quite a bit slower. My reaction time and just seeing what's happening—I was a little ahead of the game there.

BRENT SANDS / ATHLETIC DIRECTOR – IOWA CITY LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL: Any sport, your coach needs to earn the respect of the athletes. Coach Chandler has done an incredible job and does some pretty amazing things.

CHANDLER: Good catch, Jordan!

SANDS: These kids aspire and they watch these professionals on TV. And to know that their coach has been one of those right on that same playing field is, I'm sure for them, a huge draw.

YEAGER: Athletic director Brant Sands has witnessed strong team spirit since joining Liberty in 2024. The school itself opened in 2017, offering a ground-floor legacy-building opportunity. Chandler cites Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz, who recruited him, as a life changer—but says his current success has prior roots.

CHANDLER: I was really blessed to play for a high school coach who's legendary in the state of Texas. He was a really great example of how to be as a head coach in high school. If somebody is getting after you, it's because they care about you, ok?

YEAGER: Chandler’s story has parallels at another Iowa high school that's nearby—though one steeped in tragedy.

BRAD MEESTER / HEAD COACH – MOUNT VERNON MUSTANGS: I've had a lot of different coaches, and I feel like I've taken a little bit from each one of them. But it all comes back to Coach Thomas. I think it was just—he has such a way of teaching kids, and it was more than just the X's and O's. You know, it was more than football. It was just learning characteristics that you can apply in life.

YEAGER: Born and raised in Iowa, Brad Meester started a franchise-record 209 games for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars at center and left guard. Drafted from the University of Northern Iowa, he played high school football for Aplington-Parkersburg’s legendary coach Ed Thomas, who sent four separate players on a path to the NFL. Thomas was shot and killed by another former player in June of 2009.

ED THOMAS (1950–2009) / HEAD COACH – APLINGTON-PARKERSBURG FALCONS: This community is very resilient. We'll put the town back together. There's no question about that. And I hope they put the school right back up here.

YEAGER: Thomas rallied downtrodden Parkersburg a year earlier, after the town was decimated by an EF5 tornado. Meester says that resilience was echoed following 2020’s derecho in Mount Vernon—where he spent seven years coaching offense, and the last two as head man.

MEESTER: You can feel that here, too. It's such a tight-knit community that when something happens, this whole group pulls together, this whole town pulls together. That's what's really awesome about this community. That's what we love about it here.

YEAGER: Mount Vernon's activities director, Matt Thede, champions how well Meester and his assistants mesh with the school's tradition-laden landscape.

MATT THEDE / ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR – MOUNT VERNON HIGH SCHOOL: Coach Meester was a great hire, right? He is a tremendous leader. He's been in the trenches. When he sat in my office, he said, “I want to make a difference in kids' lives the way that Coach Thomas and my coaches made a difference in my life.” And these guys have just done a great job of building and continuing to move it forward in a progressive manner as well—one that honors the past yet looks to the future.

KELLEN HAVERBACK / SENIOR QUARTERBACK – MOUNT VERNON MUSTANGS: That's why he's built such a great program here. And, you know, we just want to be his guys, and we trust him—and that's really important if you're a player and playing for your coach.

MEESTER: Nice! Let's have a great one tonight. Let's line it up. Here we go.

HAVERBACK: 1-2-3...

MOUNT VERNON MUSTANGS FOOTBALL TEAM: Stangs!

YEAGER: Meester and Chandler are just two examples of several players who've returned to Iowa to share their love and knowledge of the game with the next generation. Following in their footsteps could be a proud moment, but both agree—laying foundations for fulfilling futures, of any stripe, would be their crowning achievement.

IOWA CITY LIBERTY LIGHTNING FOOTBALL TEAM: Bolts on 3! 1-2-3, Bolts!

On behalf of the Iowa High School Athletic Association...