EVERETT — The culture change that first-year Everett football coach Doug Trainor is bringing to the Seagull program starts with how the players walk into a room.
“It’s an alpha dog mentality when you walk into a room,” Trainor said, explaining the “Establish Alpha” motto on the back of some of his assistant coaches’ T-shirts at the team’s first day of practice Wednesday. “We want our guys to be out front when they walk into a room, not the guys that creep into the corners.”
Trainor said that mentality translates to the field, where he wants Everett players to want the ball in their hands in key situations, and to want to be the one to make a tackle on third-and-goal.
“We don’t want to wait for someone else to make something happen,” he said.
Trainor took over at Everett after previous head coaching stints at Stanwood, Ballard and Bellingham, and is looking to restore glory and success to a program that went 1-9 in each of the last three seasons.
After a summer of weightlifting and conditioning that exceeded Trainor’s expectations, he feels the team is on the right track.
The key piece to bringing Everett football back to prominence, Trainor said, will be the development of grit.
“In the past here, stuff has hit the fan and guys have had a tendency to put their heads down and drop out of a game,” he said. “We’re putting the guys in pressure situations constantly and being demanding, so that when we’re faced with adversity in a game they’ll know how to respond.”
Even though Trainor has been a head coach for 12 years, he took to the first day with his new team with the enthusiasm of a rookie coach.
When Everett’s defense was quick to pounce on an errant snap late in Wednesday’s practice, running through the junior varsity to return the fumble for a touchdown, Trainor was whooping and hollering as loud as any player.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” he said. “Our guys have done a real job at camp and during the summer and we’re just trying to get back in a groove.”
EVERETT SEAGULLS
Head coach: Doug Trainor (1st season)
Key returners: Nick Blair, Sr., OL/DL; Andrew McLain, Sr., OL/DL; Aki Howell, Sr., RB/CB; Aldo Yeo, Soph., RB/LB.
Coach’s quote: “We’re fighting a little bit to not think about anything beyond Week 1. We have some things to do to get there, and we’ve taken some good steps already this preseason. We have set team goals and we know they’re there. They’re up on the wall, but we want our guys’ heads focused on winning the first game. For a team that was 1-9 the last three years, we want to get the first one out of the way early.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
