Meet Alec Horne | Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator: Salt River Scorpions Junior College Football Program

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alec Horne and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alec, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Our program assists student-athletes, (mostly consisting of student-athletes from the state of Arizona) in working towards the opportunity to transfer to a four-year institution through many facets including:

1) Academics- our student-athletes are required to be enrolled as full-time students at a junior college in order to be eligible to participate. This ensures are student-athletes are working towards the goal of obtaining an Associate’s Degree or eligibility to transfer to a four-year institution.

2) On field Competition- our student-athletes participate in a 9-10 game season competing against the four other teams in our conference and 1-2 out of conference games. This allows them to show their abilities on the field as players. They then can take those filmed games and create highlight films which in turn get sent out to coaches at four year institutions via social media, email, and direct phone calls with contacts our coaches have.

3) Character- Our program operates on the mantra of the 3 C’s which was established by our Head Coach Larry Davis. They include Character, Classroom and Competition.

Character- being a good person of moral standard
Classroom- achieving high academic success
Competition- on the field against opponents as shown on film

Student-athletes who achieve the 3 C’s are more likely to be marketable to four year institutions and are equipped to be a benefit to society after their playing careers are over.

We are not only focused on the football piece but developing the overall human being that is in our program.

What should our readers know about your business?
Being apart of an upstart Junior College league has been no easy task. In 2019, the Maricopa County Community College District did away with football which in turn lead other community colleges in the state to do away with football due to a lack of scheduling. As a result, the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference (HJCAC) was established in order to ensure that opportunities to continue education and play football were still an option for Arizona student-athletes.

The first two years (2019/2020) I was on the Gila River Hawks staff. Those two years we went undefeated and were ranked in the top 20 overall of all Junior College Football programs. Most of that success hinged on Ryan Felker, the current Offensive Coordinator at Garden City Community College and former Mesa Community College Head Coach (2012-2018).

In 2021, myself and Vaughn Van Dame (Head Coach in 2021) were brought over to the Salt River Scorpions to bring some of the success we had at Gila River over to the Salt River program. In 2019 the program had not won a single game and in 2020 they did not play a season due to COVID 19 restrictions in the metro area of Phoenix. We had to build the program from a blank slate and that was very difficult. Recruiting players to a program with no winning tradition proved to be a large obstacle but we were fortunate enough to overcome those difficulties due to a track record of positive culture from our previous stop. We were able to bring the team into a new era of a winning culture in year one and finished second in the HJCAC, had the most players named the all-conference team and saw many of our players move onto four year institutions.

In 2022, Van Dame accepted a position as the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach at Garden City Community College. This created new adversity for the program as the face of program was now leaving for a better career opportunity. That’s when Larry Davis stepped in as Head Coach. He kept much of the same staff intact as he had been a part of the staff the previous year as the Defensive Line Coach. With his leadership, the culture continued to grow and took a major step forward when his 3 C’s Philosophy was made a priority. This season we saw much more success in the classroom and on the field. Currently we have 17 players with an offer to play at a four year institution and we were the first program to move two Quarterbacks to Division II programs in the same season.

The journey has not been easy. We are not equipped with the same bells and whistles that a traditional junior college might have. However, we make up for that in the brotherhood that has been created and the culture of our program. We know if we continue to be successful in those facets, the other things will come in time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to mention our coaching staff. Each brings a vital piece to the program.

Larry Davis (Head Coach)- The heartbeat of the program, the ultimate motivator of young men. He has worked with many programs in the State of Arizona including South Pointe High School, Desert Vista High School and South Mountain High School. He also has worked in various levels at the youth level.

Perry Mitchell (Outbound Recruiting Coordinator)- He creates profiles for our student-athletes that are sent off to various colleges at all levels across the country to help assist our student-athletes in the recruiting process. His old school approach of leveraging his contacts has proven to be effective..

Art Alfred (Defensive Coordinator)- Leader of the defensive side of the ball. Before joining our staff he was on the staff at Arizona Christian University (NAIA) and has served as Defensive Coordinator at the high school level most recently at Desert Mountain High School. Art preaches detail and preparation in our players.

Nate Belt (Passing Game Coordinator)- Before coaching, Nate Belt played in the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference (HJCAC) and moved onto a Division II program. In 2022, he joined our staff and quickly rose up the ranks. He has been a vital piece in producing the top offense in the conference.

David Castorena (Offensive Line Coach)- Coach Castorena is a vital piece of assisting in recruiting of our local population in the Phoenix metro area. He played his high school football at North High School before joining the program at Phoenix College. In his two years at Phoenix College, Castorena excelled and earned the opportunity to play football at Tiffin University (Division II) before returning back to Arizona to begin coaching.

Jayden Wooden (Defensive Backs Coach)- Jayden Wooden is a graduate of Centennial High School in Peoria, Arizona. A standout player who earned the opportunity to play at Northern Arizona University (Division I). In 2019, Wooden played alongside Belt in the HJCAC in hopes of earning the opportunity to earn a scholarship to a four year institution. Wooden transferred to Morgan State University (Division I HBCU) in 2020 and finished out his playing career. He is currently in his first season as a coach.

Larry Davis III (Linebackers Coach)- Davis is the son of Head Coach Larry Davis. He was a standout player at Desert Vista and earned the opportunity to play Division I football at Northern Arizona University. Davis III is currently in his first season as a coach with the program and is a vital piece of sculpting our linebacking corps into high level players.

Instagram: saltriverfootball

Twitter: @SaltRiverFB

Other: HC Twitter: SMJaguarsCoach My twitter: thee_coachhorne

Image Credits
Will Sussman, Lexi Davis