In Joe Ortiz’s first season at ThunderRidge in 1997, the Grizzlies were a new program in a new school and had only a freshman team, which finished 2-11.
But Ortiz, in it for the long haul, was determined to build a powerhouse. He had a long-term basketball vision in mind, one that leveraged a feeder system with a combination of discipline and talent at the varsity level.
Twenty-six years later, Ortiz’s blueprint has morphed the Grizzlies into one of Colorado’s elite programs. Under the 58-year-old, ThunderRidge has been to 11 Final Fours, with three state titles (2002, 2003 and 2021) and four state runner-up finishes. And the Grizzlies are the No. 1 seed in this year’s Class 5A tournament, set to face Continental League rival Rock Canyon in Saturday’s Great 8.
“This has always been a vocation to me,” Ortiz said. “When I first got here I knew we were building, and what I was signing up for. But I was at all the feeder team stuff and I knew who we had coming in. I was looking down the road and seeing what the program could accomplish… I had the mindset of you make your place the big time. And I’ve always felt I can make the most influence here.”
Before turning ThunderRidge into a suburban hoops powerhouse, Ortiz played at Littleton under Hall of Fame coach Ron Vlasin. At Colorado State he served as a student manager. After graduating from CSU in 1986, Ortiz spent the next three seasons as an assistant for Vlasin at Littleton.
In Ortiz’s first three years on staff at LHS, the Lions appeared in three Class 4A state title games, winning two. Those were formative years in Ortiz’s coaching career when he found his voice and refined his philosophy under Vlasin, who is tied for the most state titles in Colorado basketball history at nine with Denver East’s Rudy Carey.
Vlasin recalled Ortiz as a “feisty little competitor” on the court. Ortiz was only a role player for Vlasin’s Lions, but his basketball I.Q. as a young assistant at Littleton (and then later as a varsity assistant at Arapahoe under Vlasin) was evident.
“He was a great assistant, hard-working, and he really started to take over everything in the program,” Vlasin said. “Like when we had basketball camps, he did most of the work and the teaching. You could see right away he had all the attributes that he was going to be a really terrific coach. He had a thirst for learning and coaching the game.”
ThunderRidge’s feeder system, which started with just the middle school levels but has since expanded to include teams as young as fourth grade, provides the pipeline for Ortiz.
“(Ortiz) has a very high interest and involvement in the feeder program,” longtime ThunderRidge assistant Bob Rusk said. “He gets to know kids at that level and develops relationships with them; he’s able to predict what ones will be future varsity players, future varsity starters. He works hard at developing those relationships early. That’s where the expectations for the program begin to be set.”
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With consistency at the lowest levels established, perennial success at ThunderRidge — Ortiz’s Grizzlies have had one losing varsity season over 22 years in Class 5A — comes from an atmosphere of both respect and accountability. Former ThunderRidge star and current varsity assistant David Arnold said Ortiz “walks a line that’s a hard line to walk as a coach” in terms of blending those intangibles.
Ortiz’s confluence of intensity, didacticism and paternal love created an environment conducive to winning.
“He cares about you and you know it, even if he’s at your throat or chewing you out for something,” said Matt Bouldin, former ThunderRidge star and two-time Gatorade Player of the Year. “He gets guys to buy in better than anybody else I’ve been around. He could have a group of guys who are all not recruited, and they’d be legit. Or he could have five studs who are all going to play in college, and they’ll buy in. He always knows how to build the camaraderie and family atmosphere that truly translates to the floor.”
Ortiz said coaching is “all about relationships to me.”
“I love our players and we (as a coaching staff) want them to know that every day in some fashion — and yeah, sometimes it might be a tougher fashion,” he said. “But that’s who we are. Sacrificing for the greater good of this team, and every decision we make is what’s best for the program. Those have always been our guarantees and those haven’t changed.”
The pillars of Ortiz’s program philosophy haven’t changed, but the Grizzlies’ style of play continually evolves. Ortiz’s ability to adapt his team’s playing style to its personnel each season has kept ThunderRidge at the top of the Class 5A heap.
“When we won the title (in 2002) we didn’t outscore people — we locked in on the defensive end and we won games like 34-29, 32-28,” said Rock Canyon head coach Kent Grams, who played for Ortiz at ThunderRidge. “When we had a three-point lead, we felt like it was a blowout, because no one could score on us. That was our identity and Coach Ortiz fueled that.
“He’s always flexible without losing his system — he adapts that system as needed based off his personnel and who he has. Right now, they’ve got a bunch of tall guys who can shoot it from the outside and really skilled guys at wing and point. Now, they’re playing more five-out, running more zone defense because they have length and they can contest a lot of threes. He makes the right adjustments every year based on his personnel, but he never loses the principles of the foundation his program was established on.”
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The mentor takes on the protegee on Saturday when Ortiz’s Grizzlies play Grams’ Jaguars at the Denver Coliseum. ThunderRidge (23-2) won 63-50 in Continental League play earlier in the season, but Ortiz isn’t taking anything for granted, especially considering the Grizzlies’ lone in-state loss to Chaparral.
That 62-41 setback on Feb. 8 was an eye-opener, as was the test ThunderRidge got in its first playoff game last Saturday. Heritage, the No. 33 seed, opened the Round 2 matchup on a 13-2 run before ThunderRidge battled back for a 54-48 victory to advance.
“Chaparral exposed our weaknesses, and we have to make that a positive,” Ortiz said. “They got up on us, we shot the ball poorly and we didn’t execute well. Honestly we had done that in other games, but we were able to overcome it… We just have to stay balanced (in the playoffs). With the best teams we’ve had at ThunderRidge, we’ve had balanced scoring.”
This year’s Grizzlies feature senior power forward Zach Keller, a Wake Forest commit who is the crux of the team’s repeat dreams. Also key is senior center Joey Bilello, senior shooting guard Jackson Brennan, sophomore point guard Andrew Crawford, senior shooting guard Mike Karnisovas and senior shooting guard Thomas Walkowiak.
Ortiz, who is retiring from teaching at the end of this year, likes his team’s chances at the Denver Coliseum. But this will be far from his last coaching go-round, as he believes he’s capable of coaching well into his 70s.
With a career record of 477-140, Ortiz ranks 16th all-time in wins among Colorado high school boys basketball coaches. Count Grams, Bouldin and Vlasin among those who believe that by the time Ortiz is finally done coaching, he’ll be among the state’s best basketball coaches ever. Currently, Carey is the state’s active wins leader and is just six wins away from breaking Dick Katte’s all-time record of 876.
“I’m definitely biased, but when he’s done, Ortiz will go down as the best high school coach ever in this state,” Grams said. “He’s got a lot of wins, and probably some more championships, still ahead of him.”
