Bremerton High football coach Paul Theriault takes players on spring break college tour
Bremerton High School football coach and dean of students Paul Theriault could have done any number of things over spring break, like taking his 1969 Pontiac Firebird for a spin or spending time on his newest project, restoring a farm-fresh 1958 Chevy pickup.
Instead of being behind the wheel of a classic car, Theriault piloted a school van and led six local high school seniors on a tour of small-college football programs in California and Oregon. It's the fourth such trip Theriault has taken with players since being hired at Bremerton in 2016, but the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
"We kind of saw the need, so we started to do it," Theriault said.
Five of the players — Key'Shawn Thomas, D'Shawn Harvison, David Andrews, Malachi Coots and John Vertefuille — suited up for Theriault in the fall at Bremerton, while the sixth — Brooks Armin — played at Kingston. Since Kingston is currently without a football coach, Bremerton School District gave Armin permission to travel with Theriault on the trip, which saw the group tour four junior college football programs (College of the Siskiyous, Shasta College, Butte College, Santa Rose Junior College) in California, as well as National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) program Southern Oregon, where Theriault competed for two seasons to finish out his playing career.
During the trip, Theriault said his group of players got a first-hand look at campuses and learned about college costs, housing plans and educational programs. They toured football facilities, met with coaches and saw how off-season training works at the next level. They also some a pair of familiar faces: former Bremerton standout Tramon Bracy and former Olympic standout Malcolm Dewalt attend Butte College.
Theriault said one of the reasons he's a football coach now is because of the opportunity he had to play at a two-year school in California. He attended College of the Redwoods before moving onto Southern Oregon.
"Really for me, I didn't have the grades out of high school," Theriault said. "If it wouldn't have been for a JC, I wouldn't have played at all. From there, I wised up a little bit and I was able to play at a four-year school."
Although West Sound football programs rarely produce big-time college football talent, the opportunities to play at smaller programs mainly exist outside the state. There is no junior college football in Washington or Oregon, but there are 67 programs in California alone.
For Theriault, taking the trip and going the extra mile during spring break is worth it to show students where they could travel after graduation.
"There's guys here, there's a gigantic group of young men who probably have a chance to go on and extend their career and use that to get into college," Theriault said. "When you grow up in California, you just take it for granted. You don't realize growing up there that not every state has that."
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton High football coach takes players on college tour
