Miners Head Football Coach Dennis Cunningham didn’t have a strength and conditioning coach when he played for Utah State from 1974-78.
Fast-forward 47 years and Cunningham and Park City Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Herhal are leading the Miners through morning lifts.
Cunningham and Herhal are hopeful these lifts and conditioning sessions with Dave Yocum, Park City’s head cross country and track and field coach, will have the team well-prepared for the start of the season.
Cunningham’s first game with a program that recently graduated 26 seniors will be on Aug. 14, when the Miners take on Sky View on the road. Sky View will be looking to exact some revenge, with Park City having ended their 2025 season with a narrow playoff victory.
“We’ve done a lot of work in the preseason,” Cunningham said. “We’re into our summer schedule: we’ve got weights and speed training Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. … And on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings we get together as a team or in skill groups and run around working on skills and concepts.”
Cunningham said so far the all-important buy-in from his players and their parents has been there in spades. He understands it’s hard to balance family, work and football demands in the summer, but he’s proud of the job his team has been doing.
“Our attitude is, if you are in town and not working, you need to be here,” Cunningham said. “It’s not optional, it’s mandatory.”
Cunningham said the work in the gym and on the field this summer will help provide the Miners with the little advantages during the season that are often imperceptible to the naked eye but show up on the scoreboard.
Not only has Park City been battling the demands and allures of the summer break, but the ongoing construction at the school, specifically on Dozier Field. Instead they have been training at the North 40 Playing Fields in town.
“We’re hoping to be on the field when fall camp starts on July 27,” Cunningham said. “Construction will be going on around us. … If we cannot open, we’re not going to have a home game without fans; We’ll go someplace else so our fans can see us play, and our kids can have their moms, dads and friends in the stands.”
With how well the team has been progressing this offseason, Cunningham believes they can continue to chase regional titles and the program’s first state title. He will look to see continual improvements and an improvement in perfecting the Miners’ desired pace of play before the season opener.
“I think this is the best we’ve looked coming into a season,” said Ethan Cunningham, Park City’s star running back and linebacker, and Dennis’ grandson. “I think kids are maturing very well and have been putting in a lot of good work. I think we’re in a great spot for the time of year that we’re in.”
In the remaining workouts this offseason, Ethan will look to win Herhal’s beginning of the exercise games, so he can choose the music for the day. On Friday it was rap music fueling Park City rather than his preferred choice of relaxing reggae music.
“We want that academic state championship, to win our region every year, to be in the final four (of state) and to win a championship,” the head coach said. “Those are our goals. Are we going to be able to accomplish them? Depends on how hard we work between now and then, but I feel good about this group. We’re excited about the challenge and the opportunity.”