Meet Our Mid-Valley: Juan Llamas develops a winning culture for McKay boys soccer
This is part of a weekly series introducing readers to individuals who are passionate about our Mid-Valley community.
When Juan Llamas took over as McKay High School’s boys soccer head coach, he wanted to make a difference and develop a strong culture.
By his fifth season, not only had he accomplished both, but he also led the Royal Scots to historic heights.
This past fall, Llamas guided McKay to the OSAA Class 5A state championship, the school’s first state title in any team sport since 1986.
“People in the school are still congratulating them,” Llamas said about his players. “It’s a big deal for the community and the school.”
Llamas grew up in Boardman, the son of farm workers who taught him the value of accountability and hard work.
He attended Riverside High School, where he excelled on the soccer team.
During his senior season, Llamas was co-captain on the Pirates’ state runner-up soccer team, falling 2-1 to Oregon Episcopal in the 2007 OSAA Class 3A/2A/1A state title match.
“This title was personal for me too,” said Llamas, who lives in northeast Salem with his wife and young daughter. “So it’s nice to shadow my second-place with a championship.”
After high school, Llamas went to Columbia Basin College, where he played soccer for one season, and after an injury, was assistant coach for two seasons.
Llamas keeps his players engaged with the school in offseason
He then transferred to Western Oregon University, where he played club soccer while earning his degree.
Llamas is in his seventh year with Salem-Keizer Public Schools, working as a behavioral specialist at McNary High School.
Llamas has come up with a creative way to keep McKay’s players engaged in the classroom during the offseason — spring indoor soccer.
“Half the time is spent on recreational play, and the other half we have teachers join them in the play, but also it’s academic support,” McKay athletic director Donovan Kim said. “They spend lots of time in the offseason mentoring those boys, working with them on academics and trying to maintain that relationship. He really cares about getting the kids on a path to success.”
Llamas took over McKay’s boys soccer program in the 2018 season.
During that season, the Scots went 4-4-7 and made it to the OSAA Class 6A state playoffs.
“One of the things I did when I took over was have the boys start hanging out at lunch to start building the camaraderie among them,” Llamas said. “If you don’t trust each other at school, then how are you going to trust each other on the soccer field?”
McKay went 7-5-3 the next season with another 6A state playoff appearance, and then in the 2020-21 school year when the OSAA did not hold any state playoffs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scots went 7-2-2 in the abbreviated spring season.
During the 2021 fall season, Llamas’s fourth as head coach, McKay went 9-4-3 and made it to the second round of the state playoffs in their last season at 6A.
Llamas knew early on McKay's team last fall was special
Coming into the 2022 season at 5A, Llamas knew the Scots could be a contender. But just a couple matches into the season, he knew they could be even more than that.
“We were testing the waters at 5A, and I was pretty happy with the team coming in,” Llamas said. “Pretty early on, we knew we could do something special.”
McKay dominated the 2022 season from start to finish.
The Scots went 17-0 overall and 8-0 in the Mid-Willamette Conference. No losses, no ties.
McKay outscored their opponents 55-4, and two of the four goals they allowed came on penalty kicks.
In the 5A state playoffs, the Scots beat Mountain View, Springfield, La Salle and West Albany by a combined score of 9-2 to win the championship.
It was McKay’s first team state title since the spring of 1986, when the girls tennis team and boys track and field team won championships.
“He always had a backup plan just in case the main game plan didn’t work out. He always had a solution for everything,” said senior goalkeeper Diego Garibay, who was a first-team all-state selection. “Some things that coach Llamas does to create a strong culture to our program is by communicating in both languages, English and Spanish, to be sure every player understands what is going on in the game or at practices.”
The Royal Scots’ state title was not just a great moment for the McKay community, Kim said, it was a great moment for the city.
“It was bigger than just McKay. It has meant something to the Salem-Keizer community as a whole,” Kim said. “Juan Llamas was the right person at the right time to reinvigorate the McKay community.”
If you have an idea for someone we should profile for this series, please email Statesman Journal senior news editor Alia Beard Rau at arau@gannett.com
Statesman Journal reporter Pete Martini covers college and high school sports. He can be reached at pmartini@StatesmanJournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Juan Llamas McKay High School boys soccer OSAA Class 5A Oregon preps
