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PORTLAND, Ore (KOIN) — Immediately after winning the 2024 state championship, West Linn head coach Jon Eagle had a look of wonderment on his face.
Beaming with pride, he exclaimed, “Wow, that just happened.” There was something else going through his mind, though.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s how you want to go, isn’t it?” said Eagle, confirming he thought he’d retire after that contest. “I came here to tell our AD Brigham Baker that I was going to be done, and he talked me into staying for one more year.”
When West Linn plays in their week zero game next Friday against Hawaiian powerhouse Kamehameha High School, it will mark the beginning of their season but also the beginning of the end for head coach Jon Eagle.
After 44 years of coaching, including stints at Evergreen and Camas, Eagle has announced this season will be his last.
It’s not surprising that he was convinced to stick around one more year, though, once you hear him talk about his philosophy on football.
“I heard a coach say this one time, ‘If this isn’t the best class on this campus, I want to know whose is. We want to make it better.’ We see this as a classroom, an extension of the school. Not extracurricular, but actually a class that we want to teach character. How to do things right and how to treat people right,” said Eagle.
Eagle has won four state championships in his career, two at Camas and two at West Linn.
But unsurprisingly, reaching the pinnacle of his sport doesn’t register as the pinnacle of things he’ll miss about the game.
“Okay, you won a championship ring? It just sits on a shelf and gathers dust, and you think that’s everything. It’s not,” said Eagle. “It’s just really being able to come to practice and laugh every day and scheme and collaborate with people. That’s going to be the hardest thing to walk away from, is just to see that in action every day.”
Eagle says he plans to travel with his wife and also be more present for his grandchildren in Spokane and San Diego — his daughter is due in just eight days.
As for what it will be like for him personally to have the one constant in his life in the past 44 years gone?
“We’re going to find out. We’re going to focus, we’re going to be present, we’re going to be right here. We’re going to focus on this right here and the players and the coaches and then when that’s over, we’ll start looking around,” said Eagle.
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Brenna Greene
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