Tyler Anderson returns as Harmony High football coach

Utah native was Longhorns' first-ever coach from 2004-07

  • Tyler Anderson, the first Harmony football coach when the school opened in 2004 and had the Longhorns in the regional finals in their fourth season, has returned as coach, a release from the school said. (Graphic/Harmony High School)
    Tyler Anderson, the first Harmony football coach when the school opened in 2004 and had the Longhorns in the regional finals in their fourth season, has returned as coach, a release from the school said. (Graphic/Harmony High School)

    The Harmony High football program is going back to its roots — the first ones.

    Tyler Anderson, the school's very first coach from 2004-07, has returned to the school, a Harmony High social media post announced Monday afternoon.

    He'll take the place of Don Simon, who coached the Longhorns from 2017-22, winning a district title in 2018, and then again in 2025.

    "Coach Tyler Anderson returns to Harmony High School with 30 years of coaching experience and 20 years as a head coach," the post from the school reads. "His career includes more than 100 wins and two state championships, but Harmony has always been home. As a founding member of Harmony ... Anderson now comes back with a deep sense of pride, purpose and responsibility — to build young men, to honor the tradition, and to lead the Longhorns with toughness, discipline and heart."

    Anderson, a wide receiver at Brigham Young University, came to Harmony from Tooele (Utah) High School, where he was the head coach from 2000-03 and led that THS to a 2002 Class 3A state championship. Just four years into his Longhorns tenure, Harmony went 10-3 and advanced to the 2007 FHSAA Class 3A regional final. The following spring, Anderson moved on to the college ranks, accepting an assistant coach position with Southern Virginia University, which he said at the time had much the same Mormon honor code he was familiar with at BYU.

     "This program will always be about our players," a note attributed to Anderson reads on the school's Facebook post. "I'm honored to return to Harmony — a place I helped open in 2004 and a community that has always mean more to me than wins and trophies.

    "What matters most is this: developing young men, earning trust and building something you'll be proud of long after football ends. Our players will be coached hard, loved harder and held to a standard that prepares them for life. This will be a program built on discipline, toughness, accountability and brotherhood ... I'm excited to go to work with you. Let's build it together."

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