PREP TRACK AND FIELD: Tim Irvin's right time to leave

| PHILIP A. DWYER THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

It appears running coaches can retire from coaching, but they never stop running the race.

After 37 years of coaching track, cross country and even some basketball at Bellingham and Squalicum high schools Irvin has decided to retire.

“I’ve learned to never say never, and I’ve had some coaching friends that have had a difficult time staying away,” Irvin said. “I know it won’t always be easy, but I just feel it is the right time for me.”

Irvin retired from teaching Advanced Placement English, Honors English and Humanities in 2000 and stepped down as head coach of the track team following the 2005 season, though he remained as an assistant until last month’s Class 3A State Track Meet.

But now he feels it’s time to hang up his stopwatch and start thinking about spending more time with his twin 4-year-old grandsons rather than how to win the next meet — except possibly in his dreams.

“Tim is the master of his craft,” Squalicum athletic director Mike McKee said in a phone interview. “It takes a lot of knowledge to be as successful as he was. He is always thinking ahead and strategizing. He can take a sophomore and not only see how good they are now, but see what they are capable of becoming two years down the line.”

And Irvin likes what he sees for the cross country teams he leaves behind, despite the graduation of two-time state champion Bronwyn Crossman.

“I never wanted to be someone to walk away when the cupboard was bare,” Irvin said. “We have some very good runners coming back next year. The boys’ program is getting better and better and the girls’ team is going to be a contender. I think it’s going to be an exciting time for girls’ cross country here in Whatcom County. Bellingham and Sehome both have good teams back, and I think it’s going to be fun to watch.”

Charged with taking over for Irvin and leading the Storm cross country programs is Peter Oviatt, who was Irvin’s cross country assistant last season.

“I think Peter will do a great job,” Irvin said. “He’s enthusiastic about running, and he’s a runner himself. I have no doubt that he will do a good job.”

But there’s no doubt Oviatt will have some huge shoes to fill.

Irvin leaves after leading the Squalicum girls’ team to its sixth straight top-three finish at state. Three of those finishes (2003, ’04, ’06) were state titles, and the Storm narrowly missed making it four straight in 2005, falling just one point short of champion Yakima West Valley.

“We had a strong group of freshmen that year,” Irvin said, remembering the 2005 race. “We were meeting the night before, and we knew it was going to be close. We were telling our girls that West Valley wore blue, red and silver, and making plans for what they needed to do, and our young girls said, ‘Coach, you’re making us nervous.’ So we decided it was best to just go out and run. Then they beat us by one stinking point. It turned out West Valley knew us better than we knew them.”

The Squalicum girls finished in the top 10 all seven years Irvin was the head coach, and he’s been involved with the program since the school opened for the 1998-99 school year.

As much success as Irvin had with the Squalicum cross country team, it almost didn’t come to fruition. After the 2000 season and following his retirement from teaching, he applied for a teaching position at Western Washington University.

“(Head coach Alan Doud) said he didn’t want to coach any more and asked me if I wanted to come back,” Irvin said. “That was a turning point. If I had gotten that job at Western, I wouldn’t have been available to take over the cross country teams.”

And he wouldn’t have been able to experience one of the most successful stretches by a Whatcom County high school team in any sport.

“We had an incredible group of girls coming up in 2001,” Irvin said. “And they had an amazing run. Then we had another strong group follow right behind them, and they kept it going. One thing I think you realize after you’ve been a successful coach, is a big part of it all is being in the right place at the right time.”

Irvin also led the Storm track and field programs for the first seven seasons of their existence, moving over from Bellingham High when the school was closed for rebuilding. During those seven years, he coached a pair of individual state champions and led the Storm boys to a league title in 1999.

Irvin started coaching as an assistant with the track and boys’ basketball teams at Bellingham in 1970, before taking the reigns of the track and cross country programs from legendary Red Raiders coach Bob Dorr in 1978.

Irvin built his own legend at Bellingham over the next 20 years.

“We had some incredible success at Bellingham,” Irvin said. “We had a run that made all of us look like some pretty smart coaches.”

In track, the Red Raiders won nine boys’ Northwest League championships, and the girls’ won seven.

The boys’ team won 64 straight dual meets from 1987 to 1995, while the girls team had a string of 42 wins from 1985 to 1989. The Red Raider girls actually went 61-1 between 1985 and 1992, dropping only a dual meet to Sedro-Woolley in which Irvin claimed he was “out-coached.”

Bellingham’s success carried over to the state meet, where each team won a pair of state titles — the boys’ in 1988 and 1991 and the girls’ in 1980 and 1987. The boys’ team also had 16 individual state champions and finished runner-up as a team three times and third and fourth once each, while the girls had seven individual champions and added one second- and one fourth-place team finish.

The Red Raiders’ cross country teams also had their share of success, as the boys won eight league titles and the girls claimed one. The boys’ team won 40 straight dual meets from 1989 to 1992 and finished fourth at state in 1989, third in 1990 and second in 1991, thanks in large part to Sam Alexander.

“You can’t coach as long as I did and win state titles without a talented group of athletes,” Irvin said. “I’ve had a great group of kids to work with. It’s cyclical. You definitely need to have a coach who recognizes talent at a school and knows enough about how to bring it out, but you’re not going to get anywhere without that talent.”

Irvin certainly coached his share of gifted athletes.

In addition to distance runners like Crossman, Emily Schick, Ashlee Vincent and Sophie Curl he’s had the pleasure of coaching at Squalicum, he coached a quintet of athletes at Bellingham that went on to earn All-America honors in college — Cressy Stewart (1,500 at Occidental College), Jennifer Schwartz (heptathlon at Azusa Pacific), Gareth Pooleon (long jump at Willamette University), Pete Kaligis (shot put and discus at Washington) and Emmet Hogan (cross country and 5,000 at Occidental).

After coaching athletes like those and putting together a legendary resume, it’s no surprise Irvin also has gathered his share of awards and honors.

He was selected Washington’s Track Coach of the Year in 1985 and Girls’ Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2004, ’06 and ’07. In 2006, he was selected to the Washington State Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame, an honor he said was particularly rewarding considering he helped start the Hall of Fame while serving as the association’s president from 1994-97. Irvin is still the director of the Hall of Fame, but admits it’s probably about time for him to retire from that post, as well.

But like most coaches, Irvin’s most cherished memories will be from the field of competition.

Like in 2006, when the Squalicum girls’ cross country team claimed the top five spots at the Class 3A Northwest District Meet.

“I remember the headline read ‘Perfect Storm,’ “ Irvin said. “And that was pretty accurate, because it was just incredible. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen a team go 1-2-3-4-5 at a state or district meet like we did that year. We just had such great athletes that year, and they were all great competitors.”

A great competitor himself, that probably explains why Irvin is still dreaming about the sport.

“I really am going to miss it,” Irvin said. “I’m going to miss competing against these other teams from the old Northwest League. I’ve built relationships with the other coaches. I’ve really enjoyed going against coaches like (Bellingham’s) Bill McClement and Mark Kerr and Kevin Ryan at Sehome. The competition has been so intense, yet so friendly. We all do things our own way, but we all get it done. It’s been a great rivalry, but a great deal of respect, too. I consider them all friends.

“I’m going to miss that. That’s the thing I need to get out of my mind as I move on, but that’s a hard thing to do.”

Even harder, Irvin said, will be that he can no longer build the close relationships with athletes he’s enjoyed while coaching them the past 37 years.

As a two-sport coach, Irvin says he’s coached athletes fivedays a week almost nine months out of the year.

“I’m going to miss the day-today interaction with the kids the most,” Irvin said. “A number of them have been tremendous athletes, but almost all of them have been great kids. I’ve really enjoyed working with them. For me, it really was a labor of love.”