BATTLE GROUND — Larry Peck was on staff for the Battle Ground football team back in 2003. He remembers the 6-3 regular season, the playoff game, the buzz around campus.
“I remember the excitement. It was like we were in the NFL or something,” Peck said. “It was really amazing how fast that can change, the climate, if you win a few games.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, that buzz is long gone. The Tigers have had one winning season this century. And the last century wasn’t exactly filled with great football, either.
Battle Ground football has never won a playoff game.
Peck believes he has a plan to change those football fortunes. Named the new head coach, Peck said it will take time, but he believes the program can turn into a winner.
“It’s stunning to me, too,” he said of the program’s history. “It’s a big challenge. There’s no doubt about that. We’re excited about the prospect of that challenge. That’s why you’re in this business, to take on that challenge.”
Karla Kalian, Battle Ground’s athletic director, said Peck was selected from a field of 25 candidates. Five were interviewed. She appreciated Peck’s willingness to work with the youth programs — Clark County Youth Football and Pop Warner — because the school district does not have middle school football. And she said it was a requirement for a coach to promote the benefits of multi-sport athletes.
She said success in football could lead to success elsewhere. Several Battle Ground teams have struggled in recent years.
“You can only put up with losing for so long,” Kalian said. “The goal in the athletic department here is that we have winning programs. Winning isn’t everything, but we want to establish a new tradition at Battle Ground High School with a winning football program on a consistent basis. I’m tired of the one good year out of every 10. My long-term goal is to have a competitive program all the time, nine good years and one down year instead of the other way around.”
Peck, 51, has taken an interesting journey to his first head coaching job. He was an assistant coach at R.A. Long in the 1980s before getting out of teaching and high school coaching for about a decade.
His son, Michael, got tired of hearing from his dad that he should get back into coaching.
“Mike said ‘Why don’t you just do it and stop talking about it?’ He challenged me,” Peck said. “It was a motivating point in my life.”
So he went looking for teaching and coaching jobs, finding an opening at Battle Ground. He was hired in 2002. Commuting from his home in Longview, he spent three years on the Tigers football staff. While keeping his teaching job at Battle Ground, he left the football program to become an assistant at R.A. Long, to be there for Mike’s final season of football.
“I missed his junior year, and I wasn’t gong to miss his senior year,” Larry Peck said. “It was a great experience. I wouldn’t give up that for anything. But that’s the only reason I left.”
He spent four school years teaching at Battle Ground but coaching at R.A. Long, until he accepted an offer to return to Battle Ground’s staff this past fall. After the 3-6 campaign, Eric Boswell resigned.
Peck took a few days before deciding to go for the job. After eight years as a teacher, Battle Ground became his school. He wanted the opportunity to be the one to make Battle Ground football a perennial winner.
His strategy:
• Connect with the youth leagues. “We have to try to get every ounce of energy out of that. We have to build a connection so the kids don’t stop playing football.”
• Multi-sport athletes: “The best thing you can do is share the wealth, share the athletes. There is a valuable skill set in each sport that transfers over to your best sport. The coaches (of the others sports) here are very enthusiastic about building a climate that’s successful.”
• Old-school values/respect for the athletes: “I think they have a good work ethic, and they are willing to work hard for you if you demand it. I’m going to demand it. They want to work hard. They want to run more. They’re going to get their wish. Out of that, maybe we can build some pride, and we can continue to build each year.”
Peck feels the community is willing to be patient with him, too. Last year, the Tigers won three non-league games, but then stumbled to an 0-5 league schedule. With Union moving from Class 3A to 4A, the schedule looks even more daunting.
“A huge goal would be to beat one of our league opponents, something we didn’t do last year,” Peck said. “We have to beat a league opponent to make people respect us.”
There are no predictions coming out of Battle Ground’s camp this week. Peck does not know how long it will take, but he believes if he sticks to his system, the Tigers will eventually turn into winners.
“We’ve got to change the climate around here,” Peck said. “We’ve got to get kids believing in themselves. We’re going to take a very positive approach because we’re going to work the heck out of them.”
Peck is excited about working hard, too. He wants that buzz to return to Battle Ground.
“Why not be the guy who gets things changed around here?”m
