PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles High School football coach Keith Moorman said he was forced out of his position last week after back-to-back losing seasons.
Moorman said he was given the choice of resigning or not having his contract renewed by Port Angeles School District athletic director Jeff Clark.
He chose to tender his resignation on Wednesday, leaving the Roughrider program after serving as defensive coordinator for two years and head coach for two more from 2005-08.
Clark declined to comment on the circumstances of Moorman’s resignation on Friday. He said the job would be posted in January.
“There is great potential in Port Angeles for the return of a strong football program,” Clark said in a news release. “Factors such as great athletes, a legacy of success, a strong youth football program, and excellent community support are already in place.”
Said Port Angeles School District Superintendent Gary Cohn when reached by phone, “All I really have in the way of information was that [Moorman] tendered his resignation to Jeff after a number of conversation about the last couple of seasons.”
The Riders were 1-9 this fall and 4-16 overall in Moorman’s two seasons as head coach. He took over head coaching duties from Matt Gracey, whom he served under for two years as defensive coordinator, in the spring of 2007.
“I fought all week to try to keep the job, but the verdict was still the same,” Moorman said during a telephone interview on Friday. “Suffice it to say, the powers that be within the district feel like they want to go a different direction.”
“I’m certainly not going to stay where I’m not wanted.”
The position has become something of a revolving door since the turn of the millennium (see box on Page B4).
Moorman was the fourth different coach to hold the job since Mark Greenleaf left his post in 2000 after an eight-year tenure. Dan Novick’s three-year stint as head coach from 2001-03 is the longest since.
“I know everyone appreciates Keith’s tremendous sincerity, his genuine love of football, and his commitment to kids’ success,” Cohn said in a news release.
“Keith has contributed so much to our athletic programs. He’s a good man and I appreciate his dedication to students. The entire Moorman family is a great addition to our community.”
Cohn announced that a community member, Andy Geiger, will chair the interview committee and assist with the search process for a new head football coach (see story on Page B4).
Geiger has spent 45 years in intercollegiate athletics, 35 of them as director of athletics at Brown, Penn, Stanford, Maryland, and Ohio State universities.
“We look forward to Andy’s wealth of experience in conducting the search process,” Cohn said. “I remain optimistic that we can indeed recruit a quality coach to our community despite challenging state budget cuts and our continued enrollment decline.”
Teacher/coach
Clark said that the district will likely be able to offer a teaching position to whomever it hires as coach.
“We want teacher/coaches,” he said. “It’s a huge advantage to have our coach in the building where he’s got a lot of contact with players in terms of being able to have access to kids and encourage them [to join the team].”
That was something Moorman did not fully possess in his last season as Rider head coach.
This year he’s taught one period of social studies at the high school and spent the rest of the day as Jefferson Elementary’s physical education instructor.
Enrollment decline had been a concern of Gracey’s when he decided to move on to California in 2007.
He cited worries about his future employment to the PDN as a factor in his resignation.
“I planned on being here,” Gracey said at the time. “I was not concerned about next year, but the next couple of years, what job I was going to have and where I was going to be teaching.”
Moorman, however, said he was committed to sticking around Port Angeles for the long haul despite the enrollment issues.
“In the four years I’ve been here I’ve turned down three head coaching offers because I wanted to be here,” Moorman said.
“There’s a lot of rebuilding to do in this program before the wins are going to come. Changing out the head coaches like underwear is not the fix.
“However it unfolds, we need to have some consistency. [Success] is not going to happen overnight.”
Moorman said he will finish out the year teaching his classes and serving as a track and field assistant before moving on to another coaching job.
“I’m not interested in sticking around here and being an assistant for somebody else,” he said. “I’ll probably take a few days and start looking for head coaching position elsewhere.
“I don’t cherish the thought of moving my children [twins Spencer and Katie Moorman] their senior year, but Spencer wants to play for me.”
Spencer was an All-Olympic League lineman on the varsity this year as a junior, while Katie played on the varsity soccer team.
“I wish the best of luck to these kids,” Keith Moorman said of the players he will leave behind. “My greatest desire is for this program to turn around and for these kids to start winning football games.”.
