Joel Babbitt is All-Colorado boys basketball Coach of the Year after leading Mesa Ridge to back-to-back Class 5A titles

Twenty minutes into Joel Babbitt’s first practice as the Mesa Ridge boys basketball coach in the summer of 2022, he pulled his new team into a huddle to let them hold an omen.

From his pocket, he produced the state championship ring he won as an assistant at Lewis-Palmer in 2019.

“I threw it to one of the kids and said, ‘Right now, after 20 minutes, I believe we can go get one of these,’” Babbitt said. “They each held the ring, checked out the ring. I did that because within that first 20 minutes, they were asking the right questions, they were buying into the defensive stuff we were working on. It was immediate, and they caught on so fast.”

Turns out, Babbitt was only half correct.

His Grizzlies didn’t just get one ring, they got two: First as the undefeated Class 5A champions in 2023, and then another title this year in a repeat campaign.

That made Babbitt the first Colorado boys hoops coach to win back-to-back state championships in his first two years at a school since Otis Johnson accomplished the feat in 2009 and ’10 at Sierra. It improved Babbitt to an eye-popping 54-2 at Mesa Ridge and earned him the nod as The Denver Post’s All-Colorado boys basketball Coach of the Year.

“I went and watched some video once before I got the job, because I wanted to see what I was potentially signing up for,” Babbitt said. “And I immediately saw there were some guys who could fly around and do some really good things, and there were some really good athletes, but the team just needed some structure to what they were doing.”

Babbitt gave the Grizzlies that. After going 28-0 last year, Mesa Ridge repeated its dominance in 2023-24, turning in a 26-2 record while running the table to another Colorado Springs Metro League South championship.

Mesa Ridge had the talent on paper to repeat this year, but Babbitt emphasizes it was the Grizzlies’ commitment to small details on the defensive end that led to another title. That was especially the case in the championship, a grinding 57-53 win over Windsor in which the Grizzlies posted their third-lowest scoring output of the season.

That defensive-oriented victory, as well as a narrow 65-59 win over Green Mountain in the Sweet 16, is why Babbitt believes the Grizzlies have the potential to remain a 5A powerhouse.

“One of my goals coming in was to develop a program, instead of just a team that wins in a single year,” Babbitt said. “We lost our offense in the second half of that Windsor game. And our defense kept fighting. As we start teaching the new kids in the program how to play offense, the hope is we can continue to rely on that defense.”

After a winding Colorado coaching road that included stops at Liberty (where he coached the girls for four years, and currently still works), Pine Creek, Lewis-Palmer (he coached the Ranger girls before becoming a boys assistant) and Palmer Ridge, Babbitt landed in a spot already loaded with talent.

This year, the tandem of All-Colorado senior guard Tevin Riehl (18.3 points per game) and junior guard Bryce Riehl (17.6, including 30 points in the title game) were the headliners, but Mesa Ridge’s success stemmed from more than just the brothers. Senior point guard Tanner Widic, the league MVP, ran the offense while junior forward Zander Iwanski and junior small forward Jaxon Auger provided size.

That starting cast came up clutch in March, and made Mesa Ridge’s back-to-back December losses to Pueblo South and Pine Creek seem like a distant memory.

“We were struggling early, and struggling to have enough experience out there as Zander didn’t come back until January from a broken collarbone in football,” Babbitt said. “We were pretty thin, and the first month was all about learning, trying to get healthy, trying to figure out our roles. It took us a while to figure all that out, but when we did, we became a really tough team to beat.”

For Babbitt, a Wisconsin native who started his coaching career in California, the last two seasons have been the ultimate payoff for a guy who was denied the chance to play hoops himself.

As an 8-year-old, he was affected by Perthes disease, a rare condition that decimated the bone in his right hip. As a result, doctors told him he couldn’t play any sports where he jumped a lot, and he began suffering from arthritis in the hip at around age 10.

The 53-year-old put off fixing the hip for decades, until a couple of months before taking the Mesa Ridge job. Now, he has a titanium rod in his hip, the limp is gone, and he has two rings on his fingers.

“Obviously right there, that’s why I love basketball, because I was told I couldn’t do it,” Babbitt said. “(Since the hip replacement), I’m feeling great. … I’ve been trying to figure out what my lucky charm was. I told my kids, ‘When I die, cremate me and put my titanium hip on your mantle.’ Now I can say, ‘Put my lucky titanium hip on your mantle.’”

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.