Jeff Graham: Examining South Kitsap's football struggles

"Why is SK football team so bad?"

That brief question represents the entirety of an email message I received in my inbox at the end of October, less than a week before the Wolves closed out their 2-8 season. Six weeks later, head coach Dan Ericson announced his resignation.

South Kitsap is now searching for its sixth head coach in the past 12 years. No other football team in West Sound has seen as much turnover during that span.

It'll probably be a couple months before South Kitsap hires Ericson's successor, but it's not too early to ask: What will the new head coach be inheriting in Port Orchard? A program that last won a state tournament playoff game in 2001, a program that last qualified for the state tournament in 2009, a program with 15 victories and 76 defeats since 2013.

Ready to take on that challenge?

Ever since I joined the Kitsap Sun staff in 2007, plenty of people have asked me to explain South Kitsap's football struggles over the years. Here are some of my thoughts and observations:

There's a reason the "what happened to South Kitsap football" question exists today. It's because, not so long ago, the Wolves were among the top programs in the state, the envy of every other program in West Sound.

South Kitsap enjoyed loads of success under long-time coaches Ed Fisher (196-49 record from 1974-1996, state title in 1994, runner-up finishes in 1982 and 1984) and D.J. Sigurdson (107-49 record from 1997-2011, runner-up finish in 1997).

Something interesting about Fisher, who returned to Port Orchard in 2019 for a field-naming ceremony held in his honor: he held a below .500 record during his first four seasons at South Kitsap before turning the program into a perennial playoff contender. Fisher's Big Bad Wolves had a run of 17 straight playoff appearances at one point.

Fisher was regarded as a leader in developing kids physically, guiding teams that could out-play and out-tough opponents on Friday nights. But when Port Orchard's community voted down two school levies in 1997, failures which would cost the football program two assistant coaches and eliminate the sophomore football team, Fisher called it quits.

Sigurdson replaced Fisher and the former Wolves assistant had plenty of quality seasons despite not matching Fisher's level of success. South Kitsap reached the state title game in Sigurdson's first season in 1997 and qualified for the postseason more years than not before Sigurdson walked away in 2011.

To me, there's something to be said for coaches being allowed to work at their craft and be afforded time to program-build. That hasn't been the case with South Kitsap football for a while. After Sigurdson stepped down, coaches have come and gone in fairly rapid succession: Eric Canton (2012-14, 13-17 record), Gavin Kralik (2015-16, 4-16 record), Cory Vartanian (2017-18, 0-20 record) and Ericson (2019-22, 4-27 record).

If you want to blame poor coaching for some or all of South Kitsap's struggles, go ahead. But consider this: why have four head coaches seemingly encountered the same issues over the past dozen years? Why didn't Kralik, who had success at two other high schools prior to joining South Kitsap, and is now head coach at Eatonville, where he's gone 46-16 since being hired in 2017, succeed in Port Orchard? Did he temporarily forget how to win games?

It's also misguided, in my opinion, to look at South Kitsap's enrollment numbers and wonder why the football team struggles "despite having SO many kids roaming the hallways."

Yes, South Kitsap is the largest high school in Kitsap County and has been the only Class 4A school in West Sound for a while, ever since Central Kitsap dropped down to 3A in 2014. Two years later, the Narrows League disbanded and South Kitsap joined the South Puget Sound League 4A, its home since 2016.

Here's some truth: larger schools don't automatically have superior football programs. Not at the 4A level.

Don't believe me? Let's take a look at the 10 largest 4A schools in the state based on enrollment in grades 9-11: Chiawana, Tahoma, Lake Stevens, Puyallup, South Kitsap, Issaquah, Pasco, Jackson, Central Valley and Rogers of Puyallup.

Did you know seven of those schools had football teams that finished with losing records in 2022? Did you realize three of those teams ― Pasco, Jackson and Rogers — all went 0-10?

You can have all the students in the world, but if you don't have as much talent as the next guy... and you're changing coaches on a regular basis... and you're playing in arguably the toughest 4A league in the state... well, you are likely going to find victories hard to come by.

I'm not saying South Kitsap is devoid of football talent, but I've seen the teams it goes up against. The Wolves are almost consistently outmatched right now. I could put the All-West Sound team from 2022 on the field in the SPSL and I'm not sure it could come close to challenging the likes of Graham-Kapowsin, Sumner and Emerald Ridge. Those teams are all bigger, stronger, faster than anything Kitsap County has to offer.

Just look at the players South Kitsap's opponents are sending into college programs on a regular basis. We're talking Pac-12 schools, D-1 and D-2 college programs. On the other hand, Kitsap County has produced few major college players since I've been at the paper. Four that come to mind are North Mason's John Fullington (WSU), Olympic's Larry Dixon (Army), Kingston's Sam Byers (Air Force) and Central Kitsap's Brion Anduze (Arizona).

The last major college prospect from South Kitsap? Running back Ryan Cole, who earned Gatorade state player of the year as a senior, then played at Oregon State and Eastern Washington. Cole graduated in 2002.

Defensive lineman Renard Williams, a 2007 South Kitsap graduate, also played at Eastern and helped the Eagles win a FCS national title in 2010. Offensive lineman Jacob Miller earned a full scholarship to Air Force in 2017.

There aren't many players like Cole and Williams and Miller coming out of Port Orchard these days. I don't see many kids like that in Kitsap County — period.

There's no question in my mind that the dissolution of the Narrows League has made life tougher on the Wolves — and not just on the football field. Boys basketball hasn't posted a winning season since 2013-14. Boys soccer, which won a state title in 2009, has only qualified for state once in the past 12 seasons. Baseball captured a state title in 2015 after finishing second in 2013-14 and has performed well most seasons, yet has just one state tournament appearance (2018) since joining the SPSL. Wrestling, which won a state title in 2018, might be the only team that hasn't missed a beat after switching leagues.

So what can be done to turn around South Kitsap's fortunes on the football field?

If I had a magic wand, I'd make South Kitsap School District a two-high school district where both schools would be 2A-sized (or one 2A and one 3A) and be members of the Olympic League. That's where Bainbridge (3A), Bremerton (2A), Kingston (2A), North Kitsap (2A), North Mason (2A), Olympic (2A), Port Angeles (2A) and Sequim (2A) currently reside. I'd find a way to get Central Kitsap (3A) and Klahowya (1A) in there as well since, you know, this is all magic wand stuff.

I'll make the argument all day long that West Sound is primarily 2A territory based on the majority of athletes I see compete here. I'd love to see two Port Orchard teams competing against Kitsap-based foes in a larger Olympic League, as opposed to teams no one really cares about in the SPSL.

Since adding a second high school in South Kitsap isn't likely to happen any time soon, I'd advise South Kitsap administrators to think long and hard about the person they hire to be the next football coach. I'm not sure what sort of candidates will be lining up for the job, but that person needs to be given more than two or three years to see what can be done to lift the program.

Then there's the expectations: what can the Wolves really hope to accomplish in the SPSL? Is 5-5 attainable facing a juggernaut schedule? Personally, I think South Kitsap winning five games in the near future would be a hell of a job, but would the community agree? What if the new head coach goes 2-8 in year one, like Ericson did in 2022? Would that be viewed as a failure?

Something I was reminded of this week: during the final five seasons Sigurdson spent at South Kitsap, the Wolves won a total of 32 games and made the playoffs four times. Yet I clearly recall seeing one Port Orchard community member bashing the head coach on social media at the end of each season.

The complaint? Sigurdson hadn't found a way to lead the Wolves to a state title.

That feels like a lifetime ago.

Jeff Graham covers high school sports for the Kitsap Sun. Reach him at jgraham@kitsapsun.com and follow his work on Twitter (jeffgrahamKS) and Facebook (Kitsap Sun Prepzone).

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Jeff Graham: Examining South Kitsap's football struggles