Sid Otton (center, back row), who started his career in Coupeville, is headed into his 49th and final season as a high school head football coach. (Photo property of Jamie Dowers/Tumwater High School Football)
The most successful coach to ever call Coupeville High School home is bringing an end to his legendary career.
Sid Otton, the winningest high school football coach in Washington state history, announced the coming season, his 49th in the game, will be his final one.
While most of his 384 wins, and five of his six state titles, have come at Tumwater (where he was my 9th grade health teacher), Otton’s first win came on Whidbey.
He got his start at Coupeville in 1967, where he coached the Wolf gridiron squad for two seasons.
During that time, he was also the baseball coach, leading CHS to a Northwest B League title in the spring of 1969.
After taking a year off to go back to college, Otton coached Colfax for four seasons, where his undefeated 1971 squad was tabbed by the Associated Press as state champs.
Back then, there were no postseason games.
After that, he moved to Tumwater, where he has been at the helm of the T-Birds since 1974, winning state titles in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2010.
During his run as a football coach, Otton is 384-129, with six state titles, three second-place finishes, 25 league titles, 26 trips to state, three perfect seasons and 15 one-loss seasons.
He coached two sons (Tim and future USC quarterback Brad, who I once nailed in the face with a tennis ball during practice, the highlight of my prep net career) and several grandsons.
Otton is also, not that he probably cares, in the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
The end of the upcoming season will mark a huge change for Tumwater football, as Otton’s two longest-tenured assistants, Pat Alexander and Steve Shoun (my accounting teacher back in the day) will also retire.
Coupeville Sports 