Ed Rifilato, a former head coach and assistant coach on the Fort Lewis College football team, and Kelley Rifilato, the head coach of the volleyball team at FLC, resigned from their coaching roles with the school, FLC announced Thursday.
Ed Rifilato spent 12 seasons coaching at FLC, including two stints as the head football coach from 2004-09 and again in 2016. He also served as the team’s defensive coordinator from 2002-03 and from 2012-15. He was the linebackers coach in 2017.
“Ed’s contributions to the Fort Lewis College football program have been tremendous for many years,” FLC athletic director Barney Hinkle said in a news release. He has served as a mentor and valued friend to our current head football coach, Joe Morris. I greatly appreciated getting to know Ed during the brief time we worked together. I was very fortunate to experience his positive demeanor, support and overall great character.”
During Ed Rifilato’s tenure at FLC, the Skyhawks were 26-48 overall and 21-39 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. He led the 2006 team to the program’s first postseason win – a 24-14 win against Dixie State College.
Kelley Rifilato led the volleyball program for five seasons. The Skyhawks made the RMAC tournament in her first season with a 10-18 overall record and went 10-9 in RMAC play. After the 2013 season, the Skyhawks never had a winning record in conference play and never reached double-digit wins in a season. The volleyball team was 38-94 overall and 26-65 in the RMAC under Rifilato. She coached at Bayfield High School before Fort Lewis.
“We greatly appreciate Kelley’s commitment to the Fort Lewis College volleyball program and our student-athletes during her tenure here,” Hinkle said in the release. “Her student-athletes regularly performed at the highest levels in the classroom. Kelley’s contributions to the Durango and surrounding volleyball communities throughout her career have been tremendous.”
Sloan Levett, who was Kelley Rifilato’s assistant in 2017, also resigned.
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kschneider@durangoherald.com
