YODER – Southeast High School Cyclones’ head football coach Mark Bullington announced his retirement last week following a storied career spanning more than four decades, one that left an indelible legacy on the sport in Wyoming.

Bullington joined the Southeast coaching staff as an assistant under Barry Miller in 1982 and took the helm of the Cyclones’ varsity squad in 1999.

In 2023, the Wyoming Coaches Association inducted Bullington into its Hall of Fame.

The statistics from Bullington’s time as head coach at Southeast speak for themselves – nine state championships, 11 trips to the state championship, 22 playoff berths, undefeated seasons in both 2007 and 2020 and a career record of 160 wins.

For coach Bullington, however, the bonds that he formed with coaches and players took precedence over the numbers.

“It’s not just about the x-es and the o-s,” Bullington said. “It’s about the Jimmies and the Joes. You have to build relationships with those kids that you coach so they’ll trust you. You’ve got to trust them.”

Many new coaches, including a younger Bullington, can find themselves caught up in the scoreboard.

“I think a lot of kids go into coaching and think if you’re not winning, you’re not doing anything,” Bullington added. “When I first started, I told my wife, ‘I would just like to win one state championship.’ She responds, ‘That’s not what you want to do. You want to build relationships with those kids.’ I said, ‘Deep down, yeah, I do. But I still want to win at least one state championship.’”

Small-town football

Bullington grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills and played 8-man football for Hyannis. 

“When I was in high school, just about everybody played football,” he said. “That was my love.”

Early in his athletic career, Bullingoton set his sights on becoming a coach.

“I thought, ‘Man, if I coach football, I have to figure out what I’m going to teach.”

Bullington played football at Chadron State College and joined the wrestling team.

Bullington’s brothers were Nebraska state champions in wrestling and grappled at Chadron. Despite a lack of experience in the sport, Bullington followed in his brothers’ footsteps in order to experience an activity he would likely coach.

Upon graduation from Chadron, Bullington commenced his coaching career in 1979 in the “big town” of Lyman, Nebraska, as a high school and junior high football coach and track coach.

At one point, Lyman squared off against a team from Banner County led by Randy May (Bullington later coached May’s son).

“We got beat 100-40,” Bullington remarked. “I think Randy ran six kickoffs back against us. It was like a track meet.”

Bullington met Southeast’s Barry Miller while coaching Lyman athletes at a track meet in Pine Bluffs. Miller mentioned an opening for a Southeast High School teacher and assistant coach for the Cyclones. Bullington decided to take the plunge.

“I went over to Southeast in ’82 and have been there ever since.”

Bullington also coached the junior high football team at Southeast where he learned to appreciate an underdogs tenacity. 

The junior high team traveled to Lusk one year. Bullington’s roster consisted of 11 eligible players, leaving no room for subs. On the other end of the field, Lusk lineup boasted 46 players.

“I had three of four pretty good athletes and one really smart quarterback who could throw the ball,” Bullington said. “I can remember, as we ran down (Lusk’s) sideline like we used to do (before games), they laughed at us. And we ended up beating them, 21-7.”

Bullington worked as an assistant coach for 18 seasons with Miller and fellow assistant Bruce Sinner before stepping into the head coach position in 1999.

The Cyclones went on to win the state championship that year and snagged additional state titles in 2000 and 2001. Under Bullington’s leadership, Southeast captured the state championship each year over the period 2006-2007, and again in 2012 and 2020.

Building a local football network

One of the many highlights in Bullington’s 41-year coaching career was watching players he guided in high school develop into coaches as adults.

Bullington’s staff included Cyclone D-line coordinator Shawn Burkart, a player on Bullington’s junior high team who went on to coach at Southeast for 25 seasons.

“I don’t even deal with defense,” Bullington remarked. “I told (Burkart) when I hired him, ‘You take care of the defense and I’ll take care of the offense.’ I’ve had sports guys at state championships ask how we stopped the other guys. I replied, ‘Well, I don’t know. But I’ll call coach Burkart – he can tell you.’”

Additional members of Bullington’s junior high team who went on to serve as assistants for the Cyclones included Crockett Herring and Todd Werner. 

Another assistant coach for Southeast, Aaron Weglin, played on Bullington’s state championship high school teams in 2006 and 2007. Assistant Coach Hayden Anderson was a quarterback on Southeast’s 2020 state title squad.

“We don’t have a lot of turnover,” Bullington said. “We’ve been pretty consistent. We just recycle people.”

A model for success

Bullington’s coaching philosophy took shape under Miller’s guidance at Southeast.

“Barry’s main thing was to be happy for your teammates’ success and to never let them doubt your toughness,” Bullington said. “And have fun. High School is too short for kids not to have fun.”

Bullington emphasizes a relentless work ethic and builds players up to confidently take on any challenge. Over the course of Bullington’s tenure as the Cyclones’ head coach, Southeast went from a 1A program to 2A and then to a 1A 9-man classification. Regardless of the opponent, Bullington stressed the importance of mental toughness to his players. 

“It doesn’t matter what class you’re in,” he said. “You’ve gotta battle. You’ve got to play up and you’ve got to play people who are good. You don’t want to play down.”

In the wake of Southeast’s 2006 state championship, the Cyclones coaching staff took the team to Cheyenne to scrimmage 4A Central in 2007.

“We thought it would be a good time for our kids to get humbled. It didn’t work, though. We scored on Central twice and they didn’t score on us.”

Bullington’s coaching philosophy centers on consistency. 

“You can’t just change for change sake,” Bullington said. “You gotta stick with what you’re doing and you have to believe in it, so your kids will believe in it. Because if they don’t believe in it, it ain’t going to work.”

A team also needs to adapt to the talents and skills of new players on the constantly changing high school starting lineup.

“You can’t just run the same stuff all the time,” Bullington said. “You can’t put a square peg in a round hole.”

In 2023, for example, Bullington put greater weight on the Cyclone’s passing offense. 

“I had a quarterback who could really throw the ball,” he said. “He’s lefthanded and can understand the game. When he’s on, he’s on.”

At the end of the day, Bullington believes the key to coaching is patience. He advised new coaches to study their craft and attend as many coaches’ clinics as possible.

“You’re not going to learn all of it in one year,” Bullington counseled to younger coaches.

A memorable rivalry

Southeast’s rivalry against the Cokeville Panthers stood out to Bullington. At one point, “everybody gets beat by Cokeville,” he said.

Preparing for each game is a highlight for Bullington, particularly playing “cat and mouse” with retired Cokeville head coach Todd Dayton.

In 2003, the Cyclones fell to Cokeville in the championship game by 1 point, 14-13. Cokeville scored late in the fourth quarter, nearly closing the lead established by Southeast.

“Coach Dayton sent his extra point crew out there,” Bullington recalled. “We called a timeout. He comes out and looks at his crowd. He gets the crowd up and grabs his kicking tee and throws it onto the bench. So I thought, ‘They’re going for the win.’ We get up there, and (Dayton) had no play called. We jumped offsides. Now Cokeville is on the one-and-a-half yard line and they score with no time on the clock to beat us by one.”

Another memorable game against Cokeville took place in 2000, when Bullington’s eldest son Matt gritted his way back from an injury to play in the semifinals against the Panthers. Southeast defeated Cokeville, 14-5, in the semifinal game.

Southeast again took on Cokeville in the semifinals in 2008. Bullington’s younger son, Steven, helped the Cyclones triumph against the Panthers by scoring a touchdown and taking the safety. Southeast’s victory ended Cokeville’s “240-something game winning streak,” Bullington noted.

In addition to coaching football, Bullington coached wrestling at Southeast and throwing for the Cyclones’ outdoor track team for “40 years or something.”

Despite the significant time commitment and sacrifices inherent to coaching, Bullington returned year after year. 

“I don’t know what it is, for sure,” he said. “I think you have to enjoy it. You can’t do this for that long and not enjoy working with the kids and coaches.”

Bullington thanked his wife, Kerry, for years of support.

“My wife has a sign that says: ‘It’s football season. If you happen to run across my husband, tell him hello.’”

Bullington also expressed gratitude to his children. 

“In six out of our nine state championships, I had my boys on the team.”

From time to time, Bullington’s daughter, Jamie, was “more of a coach than she is a daughter.”

Bullington gave his daughter walkie-talkies for Christmas one year as a gag gift to communicate during games. He can still hear his daughter calling out, “What are you calling that play for?!”

Bullington gave a shoutout to the community for traveling across the state to support the team, his coaching staff over the years and Southeast principals Tim Williams, Brian Grasmick and Randy Epler.