POULSBO — Larry Maguire has decided that 42 years in school is enough.
Maguire, the North Kitsap High School wrestling coach and a member of the Washington State Wrestling Hall of Fame, has resigned.
“I can’t get on the mat and demonstrate the way I want,” Maguire, 69, said Thursday night. “Maybe they can get someone in the building to generate more kids on the mat. It’s just time for me to go.”
Assistant Coach Ron Coppinger, a former state champion for South Kitsap High School, also resigned.
Maguire was the Vikings’ coach for 10 seasons. Before he arrived in North Kitsap he was a wrestling coach at Tenino High School (where he was the principal) and South Kitsap High School.
“Those kids learn some valuable lessons from Larry — more than just winning wrestling matches,” said former NKHS Athletics Director Virgil Taylor, who began his career as a wrestling coach around the time Maguire began coaching in South Kitsap. Taylor was athletics director for much of Maguire’s tenure in Poulsbo.
“He’s a crew-cut kind of guy,” Taylor said, emphasizing Maguire’s commitment to discipline and hard work.
“He works the kids hard in wrestling, but it pays off for him,” Taylor added.
It paid off most in 1997, when 101-pound competitor Brian Bambl won the state championship for North Kitsap.
The school also produced seven medalists in Maguire’s tenure; the most recent was Clark Hutchman, who took third in state at 160 pounds last season.
Maguire was frustrated recently over the lower turnout numbers the sport was receiving.
When Maguire began, the team would often get 35 or 40 wrestlers, but in the past few years, the teams would often have to forfeit several weight classes in each dual match because it had no one to wrestle there.
Maguire said he isn’t sure what he’ll do next, but he has plenty to keep him busy: He raises cows for beef on his farm in Port Orchard and also refurbishes antique furniture.
He will also spend more time with his grandchildren and son Pat, who is an assistant wrestling coach at Tenino High School.
“I’ve had a great experience,” Maguire said. “I got to see a lot of great wrestling and be surrounded with a lot of great people. And that’s what it’s all about.”
