Coupeville High School football hasn’t posted a winning record since 2005, the longest dry spell for any Wolf athletic program. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It’s an uphill battle.
As we hit three weeks and counting until the first official practice of a new fall high school sports season, the Wolf football squad — which opens things Aug. 21 — remains mired in a long dry spell.
It’s been 14 seasons since the Coupeville gridiron team posted a winning record, by far the longest skid for a CHS program.
That run, in which the Wolves have posted one .500 season and 12 losing marks, covers six coaches and four (or maybe five) leagues.
Coupeville is playing an independent, non-conference schedule this season as second-year coach Marcus Carr works on rebuilding the program.
New classification counts happen this year, and will go into effect with the 2020-2021 school year.
With new hard count rules, CHS is expected to finally be allowed to return to 2B at that point, after being one of the smallest 1A schools for many years.
During this year of limbo, the Wolf football program opted to break with the 1A North Sound Conference after one season. Coupeville went 3-6 overall, 0-5 in league play in 2018.
Since they’re not part of a league, the Wolves can only make the playoffs this fall if they go 9-0, something they last accomplished in 1990.
While perfection is the goal, posting a winning record would constitute a major step in the right direction.
You have to go back, through the North Sound Conference, through the 1A Olympic League, through the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, and land in Coupeville’s final year in the 1A Northwest League, to find the last Wolf gridiron team to break .500.
That covers four leagues, or, technically, five.
Coupeville was in the Olympic League from 2014-2018, but the final two seasons the conference linked up with the 1A Nisqually League for football only, creating an eight-team, two-league hybrid.
But four leagues, or five, the point is you have to go back fairly far to find a CHS football team with a positive win/loss record.
The last one was the 2005 edition, coached by longtime football guru Ron Bagby, who put in 26 seasons on the sidelines at Mickey Clark Field.
Those Wolves went 6-5, won four straight games at one point, had a winning record on the road, and finished third in a tough eight-team league.
The Northwest League champs, Friday Harbor, a team Coupeville would reunite with if it goes 2B, went 12-1 that year, losing in the state semifinals.
La Conner, the only other league team the Wolves lost to, were knocked out of the playoffs by Friday Harbor.
The 2005 Northwest League standings:
| School | League | Overall |
| Friday Harbor | 7-0 | 12-1 |
| La Conner | 6-1 | 8-3 |
| Coupeville | 5-2 | 6-5 |
| CPC-Bothell | 3-4 | 4-6 |
| Orcas Island | 3-4 | 7-5 |
| Annie Wright | 2-5 | 4-5 |
| Concrete | 2-5 | 3-7 |
| Darrington | 0-7 | 0-8 |
After opening the non-conference schedule with a pair of losses, Coupeville reeled off six wins in seven games, before closing with a pair of defeats.
The first stumble, against La Conner, came in a battle for second-place in the final conference standings, while the second loss came in the playoff opener.
Coupeville’s 2005 schedule:
Blaine — lost 46-20
@Granite Falls — lost 15-13
Tacoma Baptist — won 36-0
@Concrete — won 34-14
Friday Harbor — lost 61-22
@Orcas — won 33-18
Annie Wright — won 42-20
@Darrington — won 35-15
@CPC-Bothell — won 44-22
La Conner — lost 38-22
@Kalama — lost 26-0
After that, it was off to a 1A/2A league which featured private school powers Archbishop Thomas Murphy and King’s, and things haven’t been quite the same since.
How CHS football has done since 2005:
2006 — (4-6) — Ron Bagby
2007 — (5-6) — Ron Bagby
2008 — (0-10) — Ron Bagby
2009 — (4-6) — Ron Bagby
2010 — (2-8) — Jay Silver
2011 — (1-8) — Jay Silver
2012 — (2-9) — Tony Maggio
2013 — (4-5) — Tony Maggio
2014 — (5-5) — Tony Maggio
2015 — (1-9) — Brett Smedley
2016 — (3-7) — Jon Atkins
2017 — (3-7) — Jon Atkins
2018 — (3-6) — Marcus Carr
So, how does that compare with other athletic programs at CHS?
Well, the other nine Wolf teams which keep win/loss records (that excludes track and cross country) have all had a winning season in the 2010’s.
Volleyball and softball, which have both been to the state tourney recently, are the most-successful, with winning seasons three years running.
Cory Whitmore is the only active CHS coach to have posted a plus-.500 mark in every season at the helm, having guided the spikers to 11-6, 13-5, and 11-5 marks since taking the job prior to the 2016-2017 season.
Softball coach Kevin McGranahan is hot on his heels, with winning seasons in three of four years on the job.
Under his guidance, the Wolf diamond sluggers have gone 19-5, 12-9, and 15-10 the past three springs.
Each CHS program’s last winning season, with ** indicating it came in that team’s most-recent campaign:
Softball (15-10) — spring 2019 — Kevin McGranahan **
Volleyball (11-5) — fall 2018 — Cory Whitmore **
Boys Tennis (8-6) — fall 2018 — Ken Stange **
Baseball (15-6) — spring 2018 — Chris Smith
Girls Tennis (6-3) — spring 2017 — Ken Stange
Girls Basketball (15-6) — winter 2017 — David King
Girls Soccer (8-7-1) — fall 2016 — Troy Cowan
Boys Soccer (10-8) — spring 2012 — Paul Mendes
Boys Basketball (16-5) — winter 2010 — Randy King
Football (6-5) — fall 2005 — Ron Bagby
So, in the end, what does this all mean?
It’s not meant to embarrass the CHS football program, which has had quality players and coaches during these lean years.
But history is history, and it can’t be ignored.
The teams of the past, whether they were highly-successful or struggled, give the current squads something to shoot for, to compare themselves against.
I have faith we’ll see another Wolf football team post a winning record.
So dig deep, 2019 squad. It’s time to get off the schneid.
Coupeville Sports 