The King has left the oval

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The King has left the oval

December 8, 2021 by David Svien

Randy King celebrates as the Coupeville High School track team wins another title. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

This is the end, my friends.

For really real this time.

First he departed as a teacher, and now longtime Coupeville High School track and field guru Randy King is calling it a career as a coach.

The longest-tenured coach at the school retired as a teacher in April, 2020.

King spent 42 years in the classroom, the final 29 at CHS.

At the time, the school board agenda indicated he was also bringing his coaching career to an end, but, to the joy of many, he agreed to stick around the track oval for a bit longer.

This time his departure is official, however, as CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith confirmed King’s resignation.

King has been involved with the Wolf track program since the mid-2000’s.

His run as coach produced 11 of the 17 individual state meet titles in program history.

Wolf state champs he coached include:

2006 — Jon Chittim (200, 400); Kyle King (3200); boys 4 x 400 (Chris Hutchinson, Chittim, K. King, Steven McDonald)

2007 — K. King (1600, 3200)

2008 — K. King (3200)

2010 — Tyler King (1600, 3200)

2019 — Danny Conlisk (200, 400)

Under Randy King’s tutelage, Coupeville track regularly proved quality could beat quantity, with his teams piling up strong league, district, and state finishes despite often having far fewer athletes than many of its rivals.

The high-water mark for CHS track came in 2006 and 2008, when the Wolf boys finished 4th in the team standings at the state meet.

His girls teams were some of the strongest in school history, and 11 of 18 Wolf girls track school records came on his watch.

On the boys side, 12 of 17 current school records belong to King-coached athletes.

King also led the CHS varsity boys basketball program for 20 seasons, ruling the sidelines between 1991-2011.

He led both his 1998 and 2002 squads to Northwest League titles, coaching four of the top 10 scorers in program history.

Mike Bagby (tied for #1 with 1,137 points), Pete Petrov (#7 with 917), current Wolf boys hoops coach Brad Sherman (#8 with 874), and Arik Garthwaite (#10 with 867) all called King their coach.

King also pulled a stint as a CHS assistant football coach, and, later in his career, led middle school programs for both boys basketball and volleyball.

The spikers who he taught as young women went on to provide the core of the most-recent CHS volleyball squad to earn a trip to state.