THE PORT ANGELES High School football program desperately needs to be revived.
Perhaps that makes Tom Wahl, who holds on doctorate in education from Baltimore-based Walden University, the perfect choice as the Roughriders’ new football coach.
The good doctor’s first action as head coach: Bring back a sense of pride and tradition to the Green and White.
“That’s going to be our theme in spring practice,” said Wahl, who plans to reach out to Rider football alumni like UW running backs coach Eric Thomas and former NFL offensive tackle Scott Jones.
“We’re going to return to our roots.
“There is a strong tradition here, and we’ve just got to be reminded of who we are and who we can be.”
That will not be easy.
After all, recent history hasn’t been very kind to Port Angeles’ flagship sports program.
Not only is the football team coming off its first winless season in 11 years, it also recently finished up its worst decade (29-67 overall) in school history.
Flagging student interest kept the program from fielding a junior varsity team last season, one year after canceling half the JV schedule because of a lack of athletes.
Many have attributed the decline in enthusiasm to the team’s turbulent coaching situation.
Indeed, Wahl will be the Riders’ seventh head football coach since 2000, with last fall’s leading man, Dick Abrams, leaving after just one season.
The doesn’t keep Wahl from aiming high, with his Riders set to move down to Class 2A this fall.
“My goal is for our team to win a state championship and to be one of the best perennially at our level in the state,” Wahl said. “I don’t see why we can’t do that.
“My job and the assistants’ job is to get the kids and the community to believe. When we do that, we can have something.”
Unlike a majority of his predecessors, Wahl is firmly entrenched in the community.
He teaches social studies and physical education at the high school, and has been in the school district since 1999.
This was actually the fourth time Wahl, an assistant with the football program since coming to Port Angeles, applied for the head coaching job.
He was picked out of a field of eight candidates, high school athletic administrator Erik Gonzalez said.
That included four within the school district.
“I’m excited about an in-house guy finally [getting the job],” said Gonzalez, who’s had Wahl as an assistant for his freshman football and varsity wrestling teams.
“I think in order to turn this thing around, it’s got to come from within. That’s what I’ve come to believe.
“I definitely have confidence that [Wahl] has some great ideas in terms of trying to motivate kids and get kids on board.”
This won’t be Wahl’s first ride at the rodeo.
The 52-year-old was the head football coach of Palmer High School in Alaska for four years in the mid-1980s.
He introduced a “bigger, faster, stronger” strength and conditioning program while at Palmer, and eventually took the team to the state championship game in his third season.
Palmer went on to win a state title a year after Wahl moved on to teach and coach football with the Department of Defense Schools in Heidelberg, Germany.
His father, Jon Wahl, coached Raymond to three straight Class 1A state titles from 1973-75.
Tom played for all three of those squads before moving on to PLU, where he started as an undersized guard.
“[Football’s] always been a way of life for me,” Wahl said. “I stayed with it in college, and stayed with it after that.
“I’ve experienced success at every place that I’ve been, and I truly believe it can happen here, too.”
Wahl plans to hold on to the 4-4 defensive scheme Port Angeles has used in recent years.
He also intends to bring back the same spread offense he implemented as the freshman team’s offensive coordinator.
The Port Angeles varsity ran a spread as recently as the start of the 2008 season. Wahl also ran something similar — the run-and-shoot — as head coach at Palmer.
“We’re going to be spreading it out vertically and horizontally,” Wahl said. “I know my seniors believe in what we were doing then [with the spread] and what we’re going to do now.”
In addition to his doctorate, Wahl has a master’s in sport science from the United States Sports Academy and bachelor’s in education from Pacific Lutheran University.
He is married with three children.
Eric Wahl, Tom’s youngest at 16, played football for the Riders last year.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Wahl lead our football program,” Superintendent of Port Angeles Schools Jane Pryne said in a news release Saturday.
“We are confident in his abilities to lead the Roughriders, and we look forward to the program’s future success.
“Dr. Wahl was the unanimous choice of the interview committee; however, all of the candidates were well qualified.”
________
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.