Three head coaches resign
1 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 9:41 PM.
By Tim Lane
Molalla Pioneer
Three head coaches at Molalla High School resigned recently as the extensive time commitment prep sports requires became too much for them.
Tim Baker, the head football coach, Waldo Sotelo, the head girls soccer coach and Shelly Wetzell, the head volleyball coach all notified Molalla High School shortly before spring break.
Baker is a coach who is coming off of a very successful 2006 campaign where he led the Indians to a 9-2 record on the gridiron, including a perfect 6-0 record in Capital play.
The season eventually ended with a 19-8 loss to Central in the first round of the state playoffs.
Despite the recent success and the ingredients for another deep run in 2007, Baker felt like it was the right time to leave.
“Football has occupied my time for the last nine years and I have children who are five and two and they have been pretty patient with me coaching but they are growing up fast,” Baker said. “My wife has been real patient and it is just time to spend some time with my family before it is too late.”
Molalla was full of firsts for Baker when he originally came to the community.
“Molalla has provided me with a lot of opportunities. My first teaching job and my first coaching job and I (have) appreciated the support from the community and the school district and the players and their families,” Baker said. “I have been lucky to have a supportive wife and children as they stood behind me while I did this, but now it is time to turn my attention to them.”
The time commitment was only going to get bigger as Molalla gets ready for a possible move up to 5A where it will be necessary for the Indians to develop more of a program situation as opposed to just a team.
“We have only run high school teams for so long and now we are going to have to run complete programs, so it is going to take a lot of time and a lot of energy on their (the coaches) part,” Molalla High School vice principal and athletic director Steve Boynton said.
“Coach Baker looked at that and then looked at his family and said ‘I need to be a dad,’ and that is understandable and commendable. It was tough to see him resign and we hate to see him go,” Boynton said.
Along with the time associated with a jump in levels come the expectations of the town.
“That is a high-profile job,” Boynton said. “You have the new stadium down there and people expect a lot from the team. Last year we had a great year and hopefully we will be able to piggy-back off of that and get a good, solid staff to build on that.”
Right now Boynton is working with the athletic programs to get them prepared for the move to 5A.
“OSAA has given us a year to kind of get our ducks in a row,” Boynton said. “Realistically, they could have moved us this December, but they are going to give us some time.”
For many of the returning football players, hearing the news was somewhat of a surprise.
“I had a player meeting before spring break and I let them know,” Baker said. “I think that they were shocked, but they understood where I was coming from. A big theme of the program is that we have always stressed the importance of family and we have treated each other as family so when I told them of my decision they understood and were supportive.”
Baker expects to miss the job he has had for so many years.
“It is the right decision although it is a difficult decision because I look at those players as my boys and I care about all of them,” Baker said. “I wish Molalla all of the best in the future and I will be right there cheering along with everyone else when they make a run for the title next year.”
Next up for Molalla football will be finding a new head coach, and Boynton is committed to hiring one who will be in the classroom as well as along the sidelines.
“Research will tell you that any time you have a head football coach that is not a part of your staff then discipline problems will go up by about 30 percent,” Boynton said. “Legally, he (the new coach) doesn’t have to be in the building, but in terms of making the school function that is the one coach that all the research tells you needs to be in the building. I am going to look really hard for a teacher-coach for that position. I am going to look hard for teacher-coaches for all of my positions.”
As is common practice with Molalla High School, all assistant coaches are vacated when a head coach resigns.
“The reason behind that is it is not fair to any coach to bring them into a new setting and a new program and have assistant coaches that may not fit their philosophy,” Boynton said. “I need to be fair to the new coaches and let them make their choices; especially in a sport like football where you have such a variety of coaches. It might mean that some of the assistants don’t get their jobs back, but that is just the nature of the thing. You have to be fair to the new coach and the new program.”
The other two positions to be filled, girls soccer and volleyball, were vacated by coaches who were at the helm for only a year.
Waldo Sotelo, the Spanish teacher, found that coming in from Portland and teaching all day was too much when soccer practice was added to the equation.
“He commutes from downtown Portland and I think that between his teaching job and his commute it was getting to be too much of a burnout,” Boynton said.
Volleyball might be the most difficult position to fill as coaches who are involved with club volleyball are ineligible to coach at the high school level due to OSAA regulations.
Shelly Wetzell also was driving in from Portland for practices and it was becoming too much.
“Trying to do her work and driving was just getting to be too much,” Boynton said. “She has a young kid too, who she wants to be there for.”
Boynton hopes to fill the football position first and is posting the opening in a variety of sources and has been to a few job fairs looking for candidates.
Ideal applicants for all positions would be people interested in investing in the town.
“We need to find people who are going to contribute to our community,” Boynton said.
Molalla Pioneer
Three head coaches at Molalla High School resigned recently as the extensive time commitment prep sports requires became too much for them.
Tim Baker, the head football coach, Waldo Sotelo, the head girls soccer coach and Shelly Wetzell, the head volleyball coach all notified Molalla High School shortly before spring break.
Baker is a coach who is coming off of a very successful 2006 campaign where he led the Indians to a 9-2 record on the gridiron, including a perfect 6-0 record in Capital play.The season eventually ended with a 19-8 loss to Central in the first round of the state playoffs.
Despite the recent success and the ingredients for another deep run in 2007, Baker felt like it was the right time to leave.
“Football has occupied my time for the last nine years and I have children who are five and two and they have been pretty patient with me coaching but they are growing up fast,” Baker said. “My wife has been real patient and it is just time to spend some time with my family before it is too late.”
Molalla was full of firsts for Baker when he originally came to the community.
“Molalla has provided me with a lot of opportunities. My first teaching job and my first coaching job and I (have) appreciated the support from the community and the school district and the players and their families,” Baker said. “I have been lucky to have a supportive wife and children as they stood behind me while I did this, but now it is time to turn my attention to them.”
The time commitment was only going to get bigger as Molalla gets ready for a possible move up to 5A where it will be necessary for the Indians to develop more of a program situation as opposed to just a team.
“We have only run high school teams for so long and now we are going to have to run complete programs, so it is going to take a lot of time and a lot of energy on their (the coaches) part,” Molalla High School vice principal and athletic director Steve Boynton said.
“Coach Baker looked at that and then looked at his family and said ‘I need to be a dad,’ and that is understandable and commendable. It was tough to see him resign and we hate to see him go,” Boynton said.
Along with the time associated with a jump in levels come the expectations of the town.
“That is a high-profile job,” Boynton said. “You have the new stadium down there and people expect a lot from the team. Last year we had a great year and hopefully we will be able to piggy-back off of that and get a good, solid staff to build on that.”
Right now Boynton is working with the athletic programs to get them prepared for the move to 5A.
“OSAA has given us a year to kind of get our ducks in a row,” Boynton said. “Realistically, they could have moved us this December, but they are going to give us some time.”
For many of the returning football players, hearing the news was somewhat of a surprise.
“I had a player meeting before spring break and I let them know,” Baker said. “I think that they were shocked, but they understood where I was coming from. A big theme of the program is that we have always stressed the importance of family and we have treated each other as family so when I told them of my decision they understood and were supportive.”
Baker expects to miss the job he has had for so many years.
“It is the right decision although it is a difficult decision because I look at those players as my boys and I care about all of them,” Baker said. “I wish Molalla all of the best in the future and I will be right there cheering along with everyone else when they make a run for the title next year.”
Next up for Molalla football will be finding a new head coach, and Boynton is committed to hiring one who will be in the classroom as well as along the sidelines.
“Research will tell you that any time you have a head football coach that is not a part of your staff then discipline problems will go up by about 30 percent,” Boynton said. “Legally, he (the new coach) doesn’t have to be in the building, but in terms of making the school function that is the one coach that all the research tells you needs to be in the building. I am going to look really hard for a teacher-coach for that position. I am going to look hard for teacher-coaches for all of my positions.”
As is common practice with Molalla High School, all assistant coaches are vacated when a head coach resigns.
“The reason behind that is it is not fair to any coach to bring them into a new setting and a new program and have assistant coaches that may not fit their philosophy,” Boynton said. “I need to be fair to the new coaches and let them make their choices; especially in a sport like football where you have such a variety of coaches. It might mean that some of the assistants don’t get their jobs back, but that is just the nature of the thing. You have to be fair to the new coach and the new program.”
The other two positions to be filled, girls soccer and volleyball, were vacated by coaches who were at the helm for only a year.
Waldo Sotelo, the Spanish teacher, found that coming in from Portland and teaching all day was too much when soccer practice was added to the equation.
“He commutes from downtown Portland and I think that between his teaching job and his commute it was getting to be too much of a burnout,” Boynton said.
Volleyball might be the most difficult position to fill as coaches who are involved with club volleyball are ineligible to coach at the high school level due to OSAA regulations.
Shelly Wetzell also was driving in from Portland for practices and it was becoming too much.
“Trying to do her work and driving was just getting to be too much,” Boynton said. “She has a young kid too, who she wants to be there for.”
Boynton hopes to fill the football position first and is posting the opening in a variety of sources and has been to a few job fairs looking for candidates.
Ideal applicants for all positions would be people interested in investing in the town.
“We need to find people who are going to contribute to our community,” Boynton said.
Perhaps coaches should be better paid.