Hudson’s Bay is going a little old school to come up with a new philosophy for its football program.
Mike Funderburg, who worked at various schools in Oregon as a teacher, a vice principal, a principal, a superintendant, an athletic director, and a coach in his 29-year career, has been hired as the Eagles’ new football coach.
“I wanted to get back to what was fun, and that’s coaching football,” Funderburg said.
Funderburg, who lives in St. Helens, Ore., said that by coincidence he attended an event at Hudson’s Bay prior to the coaching position vacancy, and he had a strong impression of the school and its facilities. When the position opened, and after he researched the program, he jumped at the chance.
“I’m not a guy who lives in the past. They have had some turnover in staff. There have been issues,” Funderburg said. “But I met with a lot of the kids. It’s a great facility. There is no reason you can’t win there. It’s all about being organized and putting the right people in the right places and having someone in charge to make the right decisions.”
Jeanne Shults, the athletic director at Hudson’s Bay, said Funderburg’s vast experience in so many aspects of the education system should benefit the Eagles.
“He knows the ropes as far as coaching experience and organizational skills, both sides of athletics — running it and coaching it,” she said. “There were a number of excellent candidates. He was the best fit for Bay.”
Funderburg, 61, will take over for Will Ephraim, who had the position on an interim basis last season. The Eagles won two games in 2010. The program’s last winning season was 2002.
Funderburg has had success as a head coach and an assistant with turning around struggling programs. He was a head coach at Sandy, Culver, and Vernonia high schools in Oregon.
“I’ve taken over a lot of programs that haven’t won in a while and built them back up into winners,” he said. “I’m looking forward to doing that again.”
“He seems to be an excellent blend of veteran experience and energy and enthusiasm,” Shults said.
Funderburg, who has met several of his future players informally, has scheduled his first official meeting with the team next week. He also has already planned on spring drills, which begin the first week of June. That’s something new to Funderburg; Oregon teams did not practice in June.
The first few days will be a lot of “chalk talk,” he said, understanding the Eagles will be learning a new system. Funderburg’s philosophy is to coach multiple offenses and defenses in order to adjust to different teams, to different seasons, with different personnel.
He is excited about the new opportunity with new players.
“They’re going to see a whole different mindset in how they practice,” he said. “We’re very organized. There is not a lot of standing around. They’re going to learn the game. I believe in fun. They’re going to have fun, too.”
