Chiawana High is losing its state Hall of Fame football coach. Here’s why

Steve Graff felt it was time.

He’d be on the football field for a September afternoon practice, and his mind would wander to a place 45 minutes away.

“I’d be out there in September, and the weather was beautiful,” Graff said Tuesday. “And I’d be thinking, ‘I could be sitting in a tree stand near Dayton right now, hunting.’ ”

So Graff made the decision this week to retire from being the only head varsity football coach that Chiawana High School has ever had.

He leaves a Hall of Fame legacy of four state championships — three at Pasco High School and one at Chiawana — and a 203-59 record for a .774 winning percentage, leaving him ninth in the state among active coaches.

Graff was inducted into the Washington Football Coaches Hall of Fame in January 2016.

At 58, he has coached high school football for 37 seasons — 23 of them as head coach. Of those, 12 years were at Pasco High and 11 at Chiawana.

But things have changed over those years.

Began coaching in 1983

When he started as an assistant at Dayton High School in 1983, football involved coaching a few months out of the year.

But over the years, the sport has taken on a life of its own, with winter weight training, spring football, summer camps, and then the long season that starts in mid-August — and if done correctly and with a little luck — and sometimes doesn’t end until December.

“I got tired of it,” said Graff. “It’s a grind. Usually I’d open up the weight room the day after Christmas break ended.”

Richland head coach Mike Neidhold understands.

He and Graff were assistant coaches together at Pasco High in the ‘90s before Neidhold — a Richland High grad — moved over to Richland High to become an assistant.

“Good for Steve,” said Neidhold. “I’m sad that he and I won’t get to do those pre-game interviews together for television, where we used to scare the reporters. But I’m happy for him.”

“It’s now a 12-month gig, all day every day,” said Neidhold. “This has definitely turned into a young man’s game. I still have the energy for it. But if Graff had to, he could go another five years because he’s tough.”

Graff will continue to teach physical education at Chiawana.

“I still have three or four years before I can retire from teaching,” Graff said. “But now, I can come home after school, be in my shop, tooling around at 4 p.m.”

And hunt more.

“Oh September will be busy,” he said. “My wife won’t like it. But I have a spot just 45 minutes from home.”

4 state championship titles

Graff said the highlights of his career have been the four state championships — 1998, 2000 and 2003 at Pasco; 2013 at Chiawana.

“All the runs at those titles were fun,” said Graff. “Even the second-place finishes (in 2001 and 2014) were fun. Being able to (practice) on Thanksgiving Day.”

Chiawana athletic director John Cazier said he hopes to post the job opening this week.

“We’d like to keep it open three weeks to a month, until it looks like we have some strong candidates,” said Cazier.

Cazier said that a committee will then go through the candidates, “and hopefully we’ll have someone in place by February. Maybe around Valentine’s Day. It could stretch into that.”

Cazier said because of the year-round time it takes to run a big-school football program, they don’t want to take longer than that.

Graff is hoping that the district will strongly consider Scott Bond, a long-time teacher and coach in the district, a Pasco High grad and the Riverhawks’ offensive coordinator the last few seasons.

Bond is one of a number of long-time assistants who have been with Graff for over 20 years, starting with him at Pasco High, then moving over to Chiawana when the school opened in 2009.

Graff has always been fond of saying if he ever got hit by a bus, the team wouldn’t miss a beat because of his assistants.

“All of these guys have been together for years,” he said. “And I’ve turned a lot of stuff over the Scott the last few years.”

Whoever is hired to fill the position will have high expectations.

“He set a standard that whoever comes after him will have to fill his shoes,” said Neidhold. “Someone asked me how do you fill his shoes. You don’t. You stand next to them.”