At first, they wanted to fight for Josh Gibson.
Now, they want to honor Gibson by fighting for the next coach.
It has been an emotional week and a half since Gibson resigned as head coach of the Washougal football program. Many players have gone from DEFCON 1 — we’re going to war — to DEFCON 5 — a peaceful readiness.
They will not forget that they feel their school forced out a good man, but they want to welcome his replacement. And they want to make sure that the new coach is treated with respect when he gets to Washougal.
Gibson resigned on a Monday. By Tuesday and early Wednesday, The Columbian received e-mails and phone calls from players and parents, all wanting to take a stand in Gibson’s favor.
But a Wednesday night meeting between Gibson and some of his players helped settle the rage. Thursday and Friday, in standing room only meetings in a classroom at Washougal, the football players and administration met, hoping to come to an understanding.
“We want the administration on our side,” junior Ryan Erdwins said. “We want the people who gave Josh trouble to help us. We don’t want them hassling the new coach.”
I met with Erdwins and sophomores Jarrett Gregory and Colton Sullivan on Saturday. They used the term hassling several times, noting some members of the faculty, the administration, were constantly throwing up road blocks to deter Gibson and his football staff.
More than one parent used the term “bullying” to describe the situation.
An administrator at Washougal politely declined to be quoted for this story, but he did confirm there were meetings with the players late last week.
Gibson would not confirm nor deny those accusations. He is not interested in taking shots at Washougal. In fact, he wants his players to move forward.
“He told us we shouldn’t be fighting for him. We should be fighting for ourselves,” Erdwins said.
“We’re trying to fight so this doesn’t happen again,” Gregory said.
It must be noted that Gibson did not exactly turn into Vince Lombardi at Washougal with his win-loss record. The Panthers went 0-9 in 2008, his first season. They improved to 2-7 last year, including a triple-overtime loss and two other one-point losses.
It is a testament to Gibson’s character that a coach with a 2-16 record received such an outpouring of support.
“He was my coach. He was one of my heroes. And most of all, he was my friend, someone I could go to for anything,” Erdwins said.
“Even though he’s not directly coaching me anymore, he’s still my coach,” Gregory said. “He’s still going to be part of my life.”
“He was more than football coach. He was a life coach,” Sullivan said. “He would always build you up. He always had a positive outlook. He would say, ‘You need to do this better, and I know you can. I believe in you.’”
Before Gibson came to Washougal, Erdwins was an athlete who easily got down on himself when things went wrong. Gibson, through a series of one-on-one talks, changed that.
“For once, I played a game without thinking about what I did wrong,” Erdwins said.
The stories, it seems, could go on for days. The players talked about the impact Gibson had on their lives outside of football, as well.
That’s why last week there was a lot of anger, and then a lot of tears. And by the end of the week, they listened to their coach again.
Washougal football is not about Josh Gibson. It is about Ryan Erdwins, Jarrett Gregory, Colton Sullivan and the rest of the Panthers. It is up to them to get the most out of their program.
It starts with saying goodbye to Gibson and embracing the next coach.
Erdwins compared Gibson to a punching bag, taking hit after hit from critics at the school. The last hit he took was resigning. But even that can turn into a positive.
Others will see how Gibson was treated, and they will make sure the behavior does not repeat itself.
“We want to get across that it is essential this doesn’t happen again,” Erdwins said.
“We want the new coach to feel welcome,” Sullivan said. “If he doesn’t have everyone on his side, it’s going to be tough.”
Even as he leaves Washougal, Josh Gibson taught one more lesson. It’s always better to look ahead to make a difference rather that worry about the past. History cannot be changed. The future of Washougal football, however, is in the hands of its players.
Paul Valencia covers high school sports for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4557 or e-mail at paul.valenciacolumbian.com
