John Gradwohl coached the Edmonds-Woodway High School football team for the past 28 seasons. A 1983 E-W graduate, he began coaching his alma mater in 1996 and didn’t step down until last December.
Continuing his work as a physical education teacher, Gradwohl was tapped to take over the Warriors after first-year coach Bill Marsh, who was hired in April, recently resigned on Oct. 4.
It was Marsh’s 15th season as a head coach and 25th season coaching overall. His resume included 10 seasons at Eastside Catholic, leading the Crusaders to eight state playoffs, and two seasons with Cedar Park Christian, taking over a program that never had a winning season and leading them to state his second season. He also was hired to take over Archbishop Murphy’s program in April 2012 and resigned after the first two games that September.
The Warriors won their first game against Lindbergh 13-0 but went on a four-game losing streak to Monroe, Everett, Meadowdale and Sedro-Woolley, two of those games resulting in 40-plus point defeats.
Gradwohl took over the reins last week and helped lead Edmonds-Woodway to its first league win of the season, a 42-14 victory over Shorecrest.
“It was probably the best choice for me to do it since I was their coach last year. And so me and my wife talked about it for about five minutes, and we both jumped on board,” he said. “We had a bunch of people from the community and assistant coaches come on board, along with the staff that was here already. The guys that were here were great. And so we just added to the staff, and here we go. … The people that jumped on board to help support the program, we’re just thinking about the kids and what we can do to try and make this the best season possible with the time we have left.
“I don’t know the reasons,” said Gradwohl about why Marsh resigned. “I hope he’s doing OK. … I was really trying to give him space. I didn’t want to be a shadow on the program. Because if you had won all those games, they would have said, ‘Thank God Gradwohl is gone.’ And if he doesn’t win them all, then they’re like, ‘We want Gradwohl back.’ I didn’t want any of that drama. I was out of the loop 100%. I was supportive. I was still in the school recruiting kids to play for him because I think football is a great sport. … The kids that I’ve talked to liked him. Wish him well. They’re disappointed in what happened, but they also know it could be something bigger than them. … And they’re just ready to move forward.”
The Herald reached out to Marsh and Edmonds-Woodway Athletic Director Tyler Geving for information about the resignation but didn’t receive a response.
Edmonds-Woodway battles Shorewood this Friday and Mountlake Terrace on Oct. 25 for the last game of the regular season. The Warriors currently sit third from the bottom of the Wesco 3A South standings with 2-4 overall and 1-3 league records. Monday was the fifth practice under Gradwohl.
“(The previous administration) were running a different offense and defense, obviously. New coach, new system. And so we had to transition back. There was a big learning curve. I tell people we were kind of drinking from a fire hose a little bit,” he said. “Going into (last) Friday night, I don’t know that anybody expected what happened. It was kind of like going into a jamboree, we just were hoping for the best but didn’t know what we’d find out. We weren’t perfect by any means, but the kids hustled and the ball bounced our way.
“The struggle is we want the kids to be as prepared as possible, and it’s difficult to do in a short time,” he continued. “We’re really doing our best to get them as prepared as possible for (this) Friday night.”
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