Coupeville Sports

Michael Golden

It was a tough decision, but family had to come first.

Michael Golden, who was hired this off-season to be an assistant football coach at Coupeville High School, is not on the field with the Wolves as they plow through the first week of fall practice.

Instead, he, his wife and their two sons, have returned to Alabama.

Golden’s grandparents, and several other family members, have substantial health issues, and as the oldest grandson, he wanted to be a rock for his family.

“It was a difficult decision. All of our family is in Alabama, but it was like we had a family here in Coupeville as well,” Golden said.

“We will return to visit and I hope at some point we’ll back in Coupeville for good.”

After he and his family moved to Whidbey Island last year, Golden worked as an assistant under Bob Martin with the Coupeville Middle School gridiron squad.

With his oldest son, Cade, entering his freshman year of football, Golden was set to jump up a rung alongside him.

“I really like the direction they’re going in,” Golden said. “I like (CHS Athletic Director) Willie (Smith) and the high school staff and Bob has been like a brother to me.”

With the family in Alabama, Cade, the starting QB during his time at Coupeville Middle School, is taking snaps at Pell City High School, his dad’s alma mater.

He’s doing so in weather which is miles away from what the family experienced in Washington state, with 92 degrees and “a lot of humidity” being the order of the day Tuesday in the deep South.

“We miss the Coupeville weather!,” Michael Golden said with a laugh.

Back in Coupeville, the decision of how to fill the open coaching job is still up in the air.

Josh Welshans, who previously helped with the CHS baseball squad, has been working as a volunteer football coach and could be an option.

“We are still deciding,” Wolf head coach Jon Atkins said. “Josh is on staff and his role might expand. The administration and I have been discussing options at this point.”