End-of-the-season sports banquets usually follow a standard format: standout players receive awards, coaches recall key highlights, the seniors are honored and their younger teammates look ahead to the next season.
But for the Oak Harbor High School football team, an unexpected announcement by longtime coach Dave Ward made the Wildcats’ 2007 wrap-up banquet unusual.
Ward announced Sunday that he is retiring from coaching after guiding Oak Harbor for 17 seasons. Ward, who this past June retired from teaching at the school, used a creative way to break the news to his players.
“I told them, ‘I’ve got an announcement to make that’s difficult for me to do, and I’m not sure how to say it, but I’ve decided to graduate with the seniors this year,’” Ward said Friday.
Ward, 53, helped turn Oak Harbor into one of the state’s top programs. After guiding the Wildcats to the Class 4A state championship in 2006, Ward led Oak Harbor to an 11-0 start this season past season and a berth in the state quarterfinals — where the Wildcats lost to eventual runner-up Bothell.
Ward’s teams won more than 100 games, earned at least a share of five division titles and qualified for the playoffs his final six seasons.
Asked why he decided to leave, Ward said he accomplished his goals and is satisfied the program is in good shape for the future. However, he said he might eventually get back into coaching.
The clear pinnacle for Ward was last season, when Oak Harbor capped a 13-1 season by beating Bothell 21-14 in the state-championship game. It was the first team state title in school history.
“That was an amazing experience and an incredible memory for me and my family. We got to go through it together and (enjoy) the connection with the whole community and the players’ parents,” Ward said.
Ward said he considered retiring after last season, guaranteeing that he would have finished on top.
But the excitement surrounding the opening of Oak Harbor’s new stadium and the urge to stick with many seniors he had grown close to convinced him to return, he said.
Initially, Ward wasn’t sure this would be his final season. About a year ago he met with Oak Harbor principal Dwight Lundstrom and then-athletic director Bob Smithson to talk about the future. They agreed Ward would return for the 2007 season, but Ward said he never completely shut the door on staying longer.
Lundstrom had a different understanding, though. The principal said Friday he expected Ward to quit coaching after this past season since Ward had previously retired from teaching.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Lundstrom said, “because he’s built a great program.”
Lundstrom said he prefers to have in-house head coaches — ones who also teach at the school.
“That’s always the preference for schools, whenever it’s possible,” Lundstrom said.
The top candidate to succeed Ward is Jay Turner, Oak Harbor’s defensive coordinator. Turner, a 1990 Marysville-Pilchuck High graduate, coached with Ward for 12 years, including the past eight as the top defensive coach.
Turner, who teaches math at Oak Harbor and is its head track and field coach, is the clear front-runner for the job, said Lundstrom and Nicki Luper, the school’s first-year athletic director.
“Being in the building, having a really good working knowledge of the game, and a passion for working with the kids — I think Jay brings all of those things to the table,” Luper said.
Luper officially opened the job for internal candidates Friday and said she hopes to hire someone — most likely Turner — by mid-January.
Turner, 35, played defensive tackle at the University of Montana. He said he’s wanted to guide a prep football program since he graduated from college in 1995.
“It’d just be an exciting step for me to become a head coach,” Turner said. “It would be nice to take that next step up.”
Contact Herald Writer Mike Cane at mcane@heraldnet.com. For more high school sports news, check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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