I suppose it comes from being a high school defensive football coach myself back in the old days but in my opinion, Oak Harbor could not have selected a better guy to fill the Wildcats’ head coaching position than Jay Turner.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, us “D” heads gotta stick together.

Like I used to tell my defensive players, “The offense puts points on the board and fans in the stands, but it’s the defense that wins football games. A team can score all the points imaginable but if you can’t keep the other guys from scoring, you aren’t going to win.”

Contemplate those facts for a moment and correct me if you think I’m wrong.

I talked with Mr. T last week and he told me the first thing on his agenda is assembling a new staff.

Not that he has any ideas of “cleaning house,” he said that he plans on retaining most of the current staff. He did explain that when a new head coach takes over, there might be some other guys who would like to try their hand at coaching football and others who are currently coaching but don’t want to anymore. He said they will post the open positions right away and begin the advertising and interviewing processes.

The new head man is going to have a task ahead of him after losing a number of key players to graduation, but I have no doubts Mr. T will get everything straightened away and the lads will be ready to go on the turf at Wildcat Memorial Stadium come late August.

In addition to all of his other attributes, Turner is ex-University of Montana — just like yours truly.

Go Griz!

my choice for coach of the year

Even if the Coupeville High School girls basketball team doesn’t win another game this season, coach Blake Severns has my vote for Cascade League coach of the year.

Taking over a program that was in turmoil and had won only one league game last season, he has molded together a team that plays their hearts out in every game and is currently 4-3 in the Cascade League and 7-6 overall .

In short, he has brought in a new style of coaching and a new way of doing things, and the girls have become a fun group to watch.

Severns sort of had the deck stacked against him when he took the program over just before practice sessions began in early November.

The girls didn’t play summer ball, which, unfortunately, has become a requirement for a winning program, several players had moved for one reason or another and another player was recovering from a knee injury that kept her sidelined for most of last season.

When the season began, the Wolf Pack was short on experience and a number new faces were on the varsity roster.

Then, guess what? A couple of players moved back to Coupeville, the knee is all better and who cares about summer ball — right now the team is clicking.

The only problem Severns has now is putting together the right rotation for substitutions.

Good luck the rest of the way and we’ll see you at the district tournament.