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Departing North coach advises to ‘trust the process’ Mitchell Monday Jan 22, 2018 at 7:12 PM Jan 22, 2018 at 7:14 PM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry Outgoing North Medford football coach Mike Mitchell met with his players Monday and left them with one final message as they await word on who will be their next head coach. “My words to them were to trust the process,” said Mitchell, who stepped down after six years as Black Tornado head coach last week. “(North Medford administrators) will select a committee of good people to be in a search committee, they’ll open the job up and take a look at inside candidates as well as those from the outside and hopefully they’re able to pick the right person.” “They did a good job last time with (former North Athletic Director) Tim Sam and (former North Principal) Ron Beick leading the search,” he added. “It was a very intelligent process and very thorough, and I would expect they’ll follow the same path this time around.” As for his exit, the 72-year-old Mitchell said he hadn’t planned on stepping down after this past season but, upon further review, he just felt it was the right time to move on and let someone else try their hand with the Black Tornado. “It’s just a good natural time,” he said. “I think we have a great group coming up that are freshmen and sophomores right now, so the decision was, do I stay for another year or so? But really, to do this next group justice, you’ve got to be here three years and that’s what made me decide. Fifty years is a long time to be teaching and coaching in high school. I loved my experience here but I just think this was a natural time to retire.” Mitchell is remaining in his teaching role at North Medford at least through mid-April, when he potentially could step aside to allow the school to get a coach into the school and set to go for spring and summer offseason training. Should the district need more time or for him to complete his contract, then Mitchell said he would be available for that. “I’m a team guy so whatever they need is fine by me,” said Mitchell. Mitchell guided the Black Tornado to its first winning season in eight years in 2013, when the school also won its first conference title in that same span and advanced to the Class 6A state quarterfinals. In six years, he amassed a 33-30 record at North Medford while also turning a team in turmoil into one with a unified presence. “I hope I brought integrity to these kids and to this program,” said Mitchell. “I think we did a good job of not saying much about what happened here in the past and just forged on with what was in our control.” With that came the unquestioned support Mitchell and company received from the school’s administration, fellow teachers, parents, players and boosters. He cannot say enough about how helpful all were in getting the football program back on track. Being part of such an atmosphere in Medford is also why Mitchell can only laugh when he laments not originally getting the North Medford job when it opened up in 1983. The then-Hidden Valley coach was a finalist, but Craig Hastin was chosen. “I wish I had the job back then,” laughs Mitchell. “I would’ve kept it for 30 years if I could.” The current atmosphere is certainly what leads Mitchell to believe the Black Tornado will have no shortage of coaches interested in the football position. “I think this is a great situation,” he said. “The Medford School District, the people here and the fans are as good as anywhere in high school I’ve ever been.” That’s not to say there couldn’t be some changes made, specifically in number of assistant coaches within the program and the commitment to hiring more teachers with more teaching opportunities for assistants. “I definitely think we need more coaches,” said Mitchell. “(South Medford head coach Bill Singler) and I both have nine and the rest of our league has 12, and that’s an issue I’ve tried to work at through proper channels. It makes it harder to say when Bill had such a great year this year, but the truth of the matter is it makes a big difference when you have an equal amount of coaches with Sheldon and Grants Pass and everyone else.” “It’s all about recruiting these days,” he added. “People talk about college recruiting but high school recruiters are the best in the world. You have to work the halls every day if you want to get anywhere.” As for a potential successor, Mitchell said he’s going to try to stay on the sidelines for much of that conversation. “I think I have put together a really good staff and I think there are candidates that probably will apply that are inside the program or are at least qualified to apply,” he said. “I respect the process and I really am a process guy so I think they’ll open it up, and I think they’ll have good candidates to choose from both inside and outside the program.” At first blush, current assistant head coach/linebackers coach Dave Johnson and defensive coordinator Jake Palaniuk come to mind as viable potential candidates from within the program. Both have been instrumental in North Medford’s success under Mitchell and provide a known commodity for the returning players. Another interesting name to watch in this search may be former Black Tornado standout David Faaeteete, who guided Hermiston High to the Class 5A state championship last fall. A 2004 North Medford graduate, Faaeteete played at the University of Oregon before joining the staff of former Tornado assistant Mark Hodges at Hermiston in 2008. Hermiston went on to win its first state title in 2014, and Faaeteete took over as head coach for Hodges in 2015. In the Bulldogs’ final season in the Oregon School Activities Association, Faaeteete led Hermiston to an 11-2 record this past season, capped by a 38-35 win over Churchill in the 5A final. For his efforts, Faaeteete was named the all-Oregon Coach of the Year by USA Today High School Sports. Hermiston will join the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association in the fall for all sports in a move deemed necessary due to the school’s enrollment growth and travel distance to other 5A schools. How the next step pans out wasn’t nearly as important to Mitchell on Monday as assuring his players that they will be in good hands, and letting them know how much he has appreciated his time with them. “I just told them how proud I was of everything they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve worked hard and done everything they were asked to do, and you can’t ask for much more than that.” As for his own next step, Mitchell said he and his wife Gail will likely sit down and discuss their options in the coming months. “Right now I’m going to try to catch my breath and see what the next step in my life will be,” he said. “I won’t say it won’t be in coaching, because that’s what I love, but it probably won’t be with the high school teaching thing attached to it; 50 years is enough.” It also won’t involve too much relaxation for a man who has coached professional football in Sweden and Croatia and may find himself overseas again. “I’m not a sitter so I’m not going to be in some rocking chair on some porch,” said Mitchell. “And I’m not very good at golf, so we’ll see what happens.” — Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry