HE WANTED TO raise the bar.
In back-to-back seasons, Port Townsend football coach Brian O’Hara did just that.
Yet only a few months after guiding the Redskins to their first playoff game in four years, he’s walking away.
O’Hara resigned his position as head coach in February, meaning Port Townsend will be looking for its third head coach in five seasons.
Juggling dueling duties as a social studies teacher at Sequim High School and head football coach at Port Townsend eventually became overwhelming, O’Hara said.
“It was a tough decision for me to make,” said the 55-year-old O’Hara, who has been involved with football the last 47 years of his life.
“I found it quite difficult to be in Sequim and run a program in Port Townsend. It got to be too much in terms of travel and connection with kids and all of that.
“It was just an outstanding group of kids, and the parents were absolutely fantastic. It was difficult to [walk away], but I just felt that the program needs more of a local connection, preferably somebody on staff.”
Port Townsend vice principal Patrick Kane said administrators have yet to begin searching for a replacement.
“We will start the search shortly,” said Kane, also the high school’s boys soccer coach. “We have not had a chance to look at that yet.”
Port Townsend was 13-8 in O’Hara’s two years at the helm.
He replaced Tom Sly, who coached the Redskins for two seasons before resigning in the spring of 2008.
With the help of offensive coordinator Scott Ricardo, O’Hara brought the four-receiver spread offense to Port Townsend in his first season.
Quarterback Eric Thomas and his host of pass catchers flourished in the new attack, scoring 25.1 points per game on their way to a 6-4 record.
It was Port Townsend’s first winning record since 2004, and just one win short of the playoffs.
With a much-improved defense in the fold a year later, Port Townsend knocked off two ranked opponents on its way to a second-place finish in the 1A Nisqually League.
The Redskins followed that up with a pair of dramatic mini-playoff victories over Vashon Island and Orting to put them in the state preliminary playoffs. Port Townsend lost that game 25-0 to Meridian.
“I think we set some goals for ourselves, the kids set goals. In many ways we just tried to keep reminding them where we are headed,” O’Hara said.
“A season goes up and down, you run into your little peaks and valleys . . but the kids were able to reconnect. It was just an outstanding experience with a great group of kids.
“I relied heavily on [defensive coordinator] Tom Webster. He’s just an outstanding coach, and a lot of the responsibilities were placed on his shoulders.”
Whoever takes O’Hara’s place will have a difficult time maintaining the team’s upward trajectory.
Port Townsend graduates 13 seniors from the program, one which didn’t even have a junior varsity last fall.
Only four freshmen were on that 33-man roster, largely due to the fact that Blue Heron Middle School hasn’t had a team the past two seasons.
“I think what the program needs is somebody right in the school, building an interest throughout the classes,” he said.
“They are going to have quite a few kids out that haven’t played [because of the lack of a middle school team], and they are going to have quite a few freshmen. That’s a sign that [the program] really needs to have somebody hands on to build that up again.”
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column regularly appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.