Former Wolf Mike Duke is the new girls soccer head coach at 3A Rogers High School in Spokane. His nattily-dressed son approves. (Photos courtesy Duke)
Duke, up to shenanigans with fellow CHS alumni Will Butela.
“I claim this soccer pitch as my own!”
One of Coupeville’s best and brightest is hitting the big time in Spokane.
Mike Duke, a 2006 CHS grad who played five sports for the Wolves and helped turn the student section into the loudest in the land for several years, has been tabbed as the new girls soccer head coach for Rogers High School.
The Pirates are a 3A team which plays its games out of the 3A/4A Greater Spokane League, a top-level conference which includes big-timers like Central Valley, Shadle Park, Mead, and Gonzaga Prep.
While it’s his first varsity head coaching gig, Duke is no stranger to imparting wisdom or to the Pirates players he inherits.
He’s spent the past two seasons as a varsity assistant with the Rogers girls squad, while also being the boys JV head coach.
Along with his jump to the top of the girls soccer program, Duke is also moving up a rung with the boys, and will be a varsity assistant this season.
Toss in his role as co-coach with the school’s unified basketball and soccer teams, time spent with special needs athletes, and working as a para educator in the behavior intervention program, and the former Wolf ace knows his current school inside out.
Duke is taking online classes and working towards getting his teaching degree, with the goal of working full-time at the Spokane school.
Part of the reason for accepting the new soccer jobs is a desire to make an impact in both education and sports.
“I really didn’t want to have these girls have to go through another coaching regime change,” he said. “If they had hired another person it would have been the third total overhaul in the past four years. Which is just crazy to think about.
“So establishing some structure as well as providing these girls with the reassurance that someone taking this job cares about them and building this program (is big),” Duke added.
“Which at this school (very diverse, very low income) is something these kids don’t get a lot of at home.”
Back in his high school days, Duke bounced from sport to sport, and found success at every stop.
After opening with a season of high school football, he departed the gridiron.
Despite being the rare freshman to get an interception in a varsity game, being moved from his middle school slots on the offensive line and at linebacker to playing wide receiver and defensive back just “didn’t agree with me.”
Duke played four seasons of basketball and two seasons of baseball, before hopping over to join the school’s inaugural boys soccer team as a junior.
While on the pitch, he was a team captain, garnered First-Team All-League honors and led the conference in goals both years.
And, just to shake things up, he also ran track during his senior year, “for funsies.”
Both during their time at CHS, and afterwards, Duke and platonic life mate Will Butela set a standard yet to matched for creating fun, whether on the soccer pitch or bouncing in the stands at Wolf volleyball games.
Since graduation, the duo has appeared in several commercials together, at one point being the face(s) of a long-running Major League Baseball promotion, while also operating a podcast as The Fun Brothers.
Starting families, and the fact they no longer live in the same town, has made it a bit tougher to create good-natured havoc, but both vow not to let the good times totally die out.
“My goal is that it (the new job) will affect it in a positive way. More content,” Duke said. “We have been on a bit of a hiatus since my fellow fun brother has a family of five and I just had a son about 10 months ago, so it’s hard to find time (and space).
“But we will ride again, I can promise that.”
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