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football and wrestling coach North aide Turner lands football and wrestling posts Steve Turner was perfectly content to finish his teaching and coaching career at North Medford High. For the past 10 years, Turner has taught health and physical education, served as the defensive coordinator for the Black Tornado football team and coached wrestling at the junior high and high school levels. He hadn't put out a resume since he left Rainier High School more than a decade ago. But several weeks ago, Turner got a call from Fred Lucas, an old friend who is the athletic director at Crook County High in Prineville. The head football and wrestling jobs need to be filled, Lucas said, and we think you might be our guy. Turner interviewed for the positions and was hired by the Crook County School Board earlier this week. He was also hired as a full-time PE teacher. This was something completely out of the blue, Turner said. I'd been out of the loop for a long time and wasn't looking for another job. But the more I looked into it, the more it appealed to me. Turner beat out 20 other applicants for the head football job and was the clear choice among students, parents and administrators at Crook County, principal Chris Yeager said. Within minutes after Turner met with a group of students, the kids stormed my office and wanted to hire him on the spot, Yeager said. He's a charismatic guy and he really made an impression, Yeager said. Some of our students wrote him letters after he left town, not knowing whether he'd get the job or not. Steve was also the No. — choice among the parents and teachers. We just feel very fortunate to get him. Turner traveled to Prinveville today to meet with the football team and coaching staff. Crook County had a 6-4 record last season, finishing second in the Intermountain Conference. The Cowboys lost to Lake Oswego 28-16 in the opening round of the playoffs. The fact that Turner had been a head coach for only three seasons -- he posted an 11-16 record at Rainier -- didn't seem to faze the Crook County administrators. Turner was also an assistant coach at Cascade High in Turner for nine years, helping that school to five state playoff berths and the Class 3A state championship in 1980. It was obvious to us that he knows football and, even more importantly, he relates well to kids, Yeager said. We got a clear message from the people at North Medford that this is a quality person and coach. Turner will be Crook County's head wrestling coach for just one year, after which time he will yield to Pete Lucas. Lucas had been the Cowboys' wrestling coach but is serving a two-year penalty for an ethics violation. Turner said it won't be easy leaving Medford. The native San Franciscan was married here, his two sons were born here and he has become best friends with North Medford head football coach Rod Rumrey. But three factors, other than the challenge of being a head coach at the Class 4A level, persuaded him to head for Eastern Oregon. His new teaching position. Turner will be strictly a PE teacher and weight-training instructor at Crook County. At North, he has been teaching four health classes and only one PE class. I enjoy being outside and in the weight room -- that's what I'm all about, he said. His wife's new teaching position. Mary Turner will teach the fourth grade at Crooked River Elementary School. She is currently teaching at Hoover Elementary, and the Turners likely wouldn't have made the move had both not been offered jobs in Prineville. The Rogue Valley's spiraling growth. Medford has nearly doubled in size since Turner moved here. North Medford's enrollment has swelled to nearly 1,800 students. Crook County's enrollment is 930 and the town's population is just a shade over 6,000. Prineville seems like an ideal-sized town to raise a family in, Turner said. Turner will make a return trip to Medford on Oct. 20 when Crook County meets North Medford in a non-league game at Spiegelberg Stadium. The Tornado players are already warning Turner to expect a rude homecoming. They're saying, `Coach, we're not going to have any mercy on you.'