High School

Retired Washington state logging-community coaching fixture returns to lead football - in his mid-60s

New Pe Ell-Willapa Valley coach John Peterson was part of a pair of 2B football championships in Menlo under Rob Friese

Todd Milles

Retired John Peterson is coming back to the Pe Ell-Willapa Valley football sideline in 2025, this time as the coach.
Retired John Peterson is coming back to the Pe Ell-Willapa Valley football sideline in 2025, this time as the coach. / Photo by Larry Bale

Both in their 60s, John and Jayme Peterson are now retired after long teaching careers in the Willapa Valley School District.

What are their immediate plans together?

Well, they are in the middle of coaching junior-high school track and field - months after teaming up on the school's girls volleyball bench.

And now, John Peterson, 66, is taking it a step further, agreeing to become the coach of the combined Pe Ell-Willapa Valley high school football program, replacing interim coach Josh Seymour, who took over late last September after Nate Smith's sudden resignation.

Asked why he wanted to return to such a stressful coaching position, Peterson gave an honest answer.

"I am bored," he said.

His devotion to the program goes deeper than that.

A 1977 Willapa Valley High School graduate, Peterson stayed around Grays Harbor County after quitting junior college to take on odd jobs - pumping gasoline and working in the forest - before going off to Eastern Washington University to pursue an education degree.

When he returned to the west side, he coached under three of the biggest names ever in small-school football - his former coach Bud Sanchez (Willapa Valley), Ron Ruud (Concrete) and Rob Friese (Willapa Valley).

"I've been fortunate in with the guys I've coached with, starting with Coach Sanchez, whom I played quarterback for," Peterson said. "I learned a lot from those guys."

And he was primarily a defensive assistant for three WIAA championship squads - at Concrete in 1985 and for a pair of Class 2B titles at Willapa Valley (1996, 2001).

After Friese stepped down in 2011, Peterson took the reins at Willapa Valley that fall for an interim season, going 7-4 and leading the team into the postseason.

Most recently, he was the girls basketball coach at Willapa Valley, and retired from teaching in 2021.

"He coached here for 30-plus years, and I could tell he kind of missed it," said Jay Pearson, the Willapa Valley School District director of athletics, and former coaching mate of Peterson.

"So, I reached out to him (about the football opening). ... He lives and breathes football, and he wanted to instill that blue-collar tradition back into the football program."

Which means a return of the ball-control veer and Wing-T offense that made Willapa Valley a powerhouse for decades into the early-2000s.

"I am very old-school," Peterson said. "And I love my school. I've lived across the street from where I grew up (in Menlo) for 30 years ... and I want to help, if I can.

"I don't know everything, but if you've watched our teams in the past ... we played harder than anybody."

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Todd Miles
TODD MILLES

Todd Milles is a Regional Editor for SBLive Sports, covering Washington, Idaho and Montana.

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