Tenino troubles, Coupeville camp-less

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Tenino troubles, Coupeville camp-less

July 10, 2023 by David Svien

Coupeville football players continue to put in summer work but won’t be going to a scheduled camp. (Nikki Breaux photos)

A resignation at another school has put a wrinkle in the summer schedule for Coupeville High School football.

The Wolves were slated to hit the road July 20-22, returning to Tenino’s annual summer camp, held on its famed black gridiron.

But things went sideways late last week, when the Beavers lost head coach Cary Nagel and most of his staff.

That has led Tenino to cancel the camp, as it scrambles to find a football staff five weeks out from the start of practice for a new season.

Nagel, a Shelton alum who previously coached at his alma mater and Franklin Pierce, has been in charge at Tenino for six years.

During that time, he turned around a program mired in mediocrity, with the Beavers going 10-2 and 9-2 the past two seasons.

Under Nagel’s leadership, Tenino captured its first league title since 2013, and has back-to-back state tourney appearances.

His 2021 squad won a game at the big dance, the first time the Beavers gridiron squad has achieved that since 1986.

In an interview with The Chronicle, a newspaper based in Centralia, Nagel said his resignation was due to “a series of circumstances the past few months.”

“After talking with my family and my close circle, it was time to close the chapter in Tenino,” he said. “Take a deep breath and move on to something else in the future.”

The Wolves rumble on the black turf in Tenino last year.

Coupeville coaches, coming off their own triumphant season, are scrambling to find something to replace the camp.

That could be something involving other schools, or a team-only event, depending on how things develop.

The Wolves had a very strong team-wide performance at last year’s Tenino camp, and that carried over to the season, when they went 7-2 for first-year head coach Bennett Richter.

Coupeville won its first league title since 1990, then hosted Onalaska at Oak Harbor in the first state playoff game for the CHS football program in 32 years.