LANGLEY — For the fourth time in the past five years, the South Whidbey High School boys basketball team will have a new coach.
Coach Chris Ferrier — who led the Falcons to a 10-13 record and the district playoffs this season — resigned last week. Current Falcon girls coach Henry Pope will take command of the boys program when the winter season begins in November.
The search is on to find a replacement to helm the Falcon girls team.
Ferrier resigned after his first year in the post for the simple reason he couldn’t make ends meet; first-year head coaches make $4,812 for the time they put in shepherding high school athletes.
“I couldn’t find a job on the island, and there wasn’t enough substitute-teacher work to pay the bills,” Ferrier said Sunday.
“I had a great team; working with them was a wonderful experience, and I believe they’ll be contenders for a league title next year,” he added. “Somebody’s sitting on a gold mine.”
That “somebody” is Pope, who took over the girls team in 2006. Before that, Pope coached basketball at Langley Middle School and assisted with the Island Intensity fastpitch softball team.
Born and raised in Alabama, Pope earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Washington in 1981. He coached basketball at a middle school in Seattle before moving his family to Whidbey Island 15 years ago.
Pope is a Boeing network designer. He has two daughters and a son; Samantha is at the University of Washington, Taylor is a high school senior and Lewis is in the fifth grade.
“This was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made,” Pope said. “I’ll miss coaching the girls, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t ignore,” he said. “I have one of the top point guards in the state returning, backed up by some top seniors. Want to know how excited I am about doing this?”
Last year’s Cascade Conference MVP Riley Newman said his teammates respected Ferrier and are sorry he’s gone, but said he has a good idea what to expect from Pope.
“Henry was our coach in the seventh grade when we had a 9-1 season,” Newman recalled.
“I think we’re going to do some serious damage in the conference next winter. We’ve been holding some pretty intensive spring training sessions, and last week won three of four games at a tournament south of Olympia.”
John Patton, athletic director at South Whidbey High School, said it was unfortunate to lose Ferrier.
“Chris was enthusiastic, put in a lot of effort, and he’ll be missed,” Patton said. “But Henry was the best applicant; he knows the kids and is a local guy with deep roots. Henry was clearly ready to take on a newer challenge.”
Pope will hold a parent/player meeting in the high school main gym at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 24.
Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or jvanderford@whidbeynewsgroup.com.
