Jon Atkins will do double-duty, coaching football at Coupeville, while staying on as girls basketball coach at Oak Harbor. (John Fisken photo)
One part Wolf, one part Wildcat.
Jon Atkins will be balancing two schools, two teams and two towns from this point on, after being offered the head football coaching job at Coupeville High School.
While it won’t be official until the school board approves the hire at their next meeting June 27, Atkins met his new players Thursday and will run spring practices.
Taking the Wolf job, which opened up when Brett Smedley left after one season to return to Columbia River, his alma mater, Atkins will let go of his current football job — defensive coordinator for Oak Harbor.
But while he’ll be running the CHS football program, he will also remain at OHHS as a teacher and as the varsity girls’ basketball coach.
Atkins has coached in Oak Harbor the last four years.
Before that he did a stint in the U.S. Army and spent a year as an intern strength and conditioning coach at Washington State University.
The gridiron has always been important to Atkins, both as a player and coach.
“I played football since I was a young boy,” he said. “It was always a part of my life.”
After four years of high school ball, he played two years at Yuba Community College in California.
Coming out of the Army, Atkins attended Western Washington University, majoring in kinesiology.
That led him to Wazzu, before he took a detour into the world of high school athletics, getting his teaching degree along the way.
Working under Jay Turner in Oak Harbor, Atkins has been part of a successful program, one which he will still hold near and dear.
“The highlights of the program have to be the relationships that were built with the players and coaches,” Atkins said. “That I can say that the coaches and players did things the right way, even when faced with some tough decisions, we always did things right.”
He picks a playoff win over Kennedy Catholic in 2014 as a particular high point.
“One of my more memorable memories,” Atkins said. “The team really came together.”
When the Coupeville job came on the market — he will be the school’s fourth head coach in seven seasons after Ron Bagby put in a quarter-center at the helm of the Wolves — Atkins saw a chance to recapture what he experienced as a young athlete.
“I am from a small school, my alma mater has about 450 students,” Atkins said. “My former coach, Scott Turner, and Defensive Coordinator Ryan Reynolds, took that team and built a program that is respected throughout Northern California.
“More importantly, he (Turner) had a huge impact on the community and every player on his team,” he added. “I saw the CHS job as a way for me to make the same kind of impact on Central Whidbey as he did in my small town of Sutter, California.”
While he’s been on the job less than 24 hours, Atkins likes what he sees.
Coupeville went 1-9 last season, but returns a fair chunk of its starters.
That includes Hunter Smith, who owns the school single-season interception record, both players who saw time at QB a year ago — Hunter Downes and Gabe Eck — defensive whirlwinds Uriel Liquidano and Chris Battaglia, All-League punter Clay Reilly and durable running back Jacob Martin.
“I think that there is a lot of potential with this group,” Atkins said. “There are some very skilled players returning from last year’s team. They looked eager to get better and they are committed.”
The new coach plans to build around five core covenants — Commitment, Family, Toughness, Leadership, and Competition — and his new players seem eager to buy in.
“I spoke with the seniors that were out there and they seemed on board with those covenants and are going to work very hard to leave a legacy after they are gone,” Atkins said.
Goal one? An opening night win at home against arch-rival South Whidbey.
“The players and I were on the same page of returning The Bucket back to its rightful home on September 2nd.”
