POULSBO — The thought of becoming North Kitsap High School’s head football coach came to Steve Frease while on a church retreat back in September.

More specifically, it was the Cross Sound Church’s theme for the session which hit home for the 22-year North Kitsap School District veteran PE teacher and coach: “Taking life to the next level.”

“I started talking about what that next level would be,” Frease said. “It was a call, but I felt it would be a good move.”

Five months later, Frease has been granted that chance and will assume responsibilities as the head Vikings’ football coach for the 2005 season, which was given the school board’s seal of approval Thursday. Though the road wasn’t without its share of bumps — the hiring process included a grievance as well as an initial turn-down of the job by Bainbridge coach Jake Haley — Frease is happy to be in the position.

“I’ve learned to understand that a good can come out of a bad,” he said of the process. “And just how important community support — especially school support — can be.”

The new coach also has the blessing of the former 32-year Viking skipper, Jerry Parrish, who said that Frease’s attention to detail and patience make him the right man for the job.

“I believe he’ll be very well organized, and he’s very thorough, which will be important,” Parrish said. “He has patience, a characteristic I don’t have very much (of).”

Parrish said Frease’s challenges lie in organizing the coaching staff as well as the overall Vikings’ football program.

‘Homegrown’ coach

The new NKHS football coach has his roots very close to home — born at the Winslow Clinic on Bainbridge Island in 1958, the youngest of five children. His love for sports came early in his life.

“Like every kid,” Frease said, “it was a marriage of backyard sports and watching the pros.”

A three-sport student at Bainbridge High School, Frease graduated in 1976. He credited the coaching he received — especially from long-time Spartans’ skipper Gordy Prentice, for whom he played — as a reason he got into coaching.

“Why else would you coach other than to give back and help the kids learn and grow?” Frease said.

Frease played football at Wenatchee Valley College for three years ending in 1979. Though he received offers to play at larger schools, he opted to return home to Bainbridge and help Prentice, who gave him valuable coaching experience in almost every position.

He’s has been in the North Kitsap School District for 22 years, starting in 1983 as a teacher at Poulsbo Junior High and Suquamish Elementary. He came to NKHS in 1984, and immediately began assisting Parrish with the football program, a position he stayed in for 13 years. Aside from coaching stints all over the spectrum, including jobs in the Bainbridge Pee Wee program, North Kitsap Babe Ruth baseball and in the PJH football program, Frease has been the head baseball coach at NKHS for 12 years.

He’s spent the last two Poulsbo Panthers’ football seasons as an assistant coach, something that was a rationale for wanting the head North job, he commented.

“One of my motivations for applying was that I’m really excited about this group of kids coming up,” he said.

Responsibilities ranging from selecting his assistants to planning the team’s offensive and defensive strategies await Frease in his new job. He said though he won’t be drastically altering the offense and defense of the North Kitsap team next year, he grew up “throwing the ball” and that both a certain amount of the pass and run must be used for overall team success.

Taking on the head position does indeed spell the end for Frease’s current head baseball coaching position at the school — though he will coach this spring for a final time. After that, he said he’ll move solely into the football role.

Doing both sports would have been too much, he said, opting to give someone else a chance at the job and also so that he could concentrate on the grid iron.

“And,” he added in his PE office, “I’d have to put a couch back here to sleep on (if I did both).”