The bright lights of the college football world came calling for Shaunavon Shadows head coach Garret Glasrud.

After spending the past six years as head coach of the Shadows, the 31-year-old Glasrud was hired on as an assistant and linebackers coach at Western State Colorado University. 

"It's been pretty amazing. It's been a bit of a whirlwind for emotions the last week or so," said Glasrud. "This opportunity came up and it's just something that I kind of needed to take a chance on. It's going to be something I look back on and be glad I did it."

Glasrud joins a Western State Colorado University Mountaineers squad that finished the 2017 season with a 1-10 record.

"To be honest, the last couple of years they've been in a rebuild," he explained. "But, they've been the winning-est team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They've won the conference championship 19 times in school history... there's talent there, there's skill there, the conference is fairly tough, but overall I think they're probably going to be on the up-swing here in the next couple of years."

Joining a team in the initial stages of a rebuild is nothing new to the Shaunavon product.

He was hired on as head coach of the hometown Shadows in 2012, helping build the program up to dynastic proportions the past three seasons - Shaunavon captured SHSAA Provincial 2A 9-man Football Championships in 2015 and 2017.

"Most of my football life I've always been a part of something that's been on the up-swing, trying to get that rebuild going. I've never really come into a place where we've been on top already, even as a player," said Glasrud, understanding those experiences are tremendous assets to his new coaching endeavour.

"I think it's exciting, but I also think that I kind of understand the emotions and the feelings that go along with it. So, hopefully that experience will allow me to contribute in a big way."

Glasrud's tenure in the southwest of course ended with that aforementioned 2017 provincial championship, winning 24-7 over the Indian Head Broncs at home on a snow-covered Shadows Field.

After helping guide the team to their current height of success, he'd be remissed not to reminisce.

"I was talking with coaches even last week. Seven or eight years ago, it was just a high school sports team. I think now, we've evolved it into something here where we've got all the community support, the excitement, the whole southwest basically knowing what's going on." shared Glasrud.

"We've brought in the night games, we've brought in new uniforms. We've had some good runs with great teams and players, and had a couple championships. It makes it a great experience for the whole community - it's something for the community to be a part of... to be proud of. I've really enjoyed that, and it's been a blast doing that."

Having also won their 2015 provincial title on their home field, it's the meteoric rise in excitement and support from the community that Glasrud may miss an equal amount.

"It's hard to explain... it's kind of a sense of pride, but not in a sense of something you've accomplished. It's more in the sense that you've brought together so many different generations of people," he said. "Whether it's somebody that's lived here their whole life, to a young player that's just starting out in the eighth grade, to a business owner that's new to town and is interested in volunteering or sponsoring."

"It's just brought everybody together to one common goal and to want to see success for one group, and that's a great thing."

Glasrud passes the torch to assistant coach and offensive coordinator Jordi Thomas as the the new head coach of the Shaunavon Shadows.

Stay tuned later this week for comment from Thomas.