Jerry Jensen

Over the past couple of years, some former Huskies have found themselves leading football programs across the region.

Jerry Jensen is the longest-tenured of former players who are currently leading teams. He's been the coaching 2A power Archbishop Murphy for the past six years, named head coach in January of 2013, to a job that had been winning at epic levels under legendary coach Terry Ennis, until Ennis' passing in 2007. Jensen served as the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats three seasons before taking a couple of years off to build a home.

In 2013, he got the call to become Archbishop Murphy's head coach and has gone 51-15-1 with one state title (2016) and two berths in the state semi-finals.

Under Jensen, Archbishop Murphy has had quite a few players sign with four-year schools including Washington's Kyler Gordon and Washington State's Abraham Lucas.

Jensen was an all-state linebacker at Cascade High of Everett before he signed with Washington and eventually, after four years as a Husky, was drafted in the fifth round by the Carolina Panthers.

Mariner High School in South Everett is the home of Marauders and former Husky linebacker Mark Stewart. While Jensen has been at his school the longest (Stewart, hired at Mariner in 2015), Stewart has the most experience as a head coach with stints at both Meadowdale and Garfield to that spanned over a decade between them.

Stewart enjoyed quite a bit of success at Meadowdale, taking them to the state playoffs in 6 of his eight seasons there, but at Garfield and Mariner, he hasn't seen the same success.

While he's only been at his alma mater for a year, the early returns for Bellevue High's Michael Kneip are definitely positive.

After taking over the program in the spring of 2018, all Kneip did was lead a team that had absorbed the sanctions from the WIAA over the past couple of years to a 12-1 record and a berth in the state semi-finals with their only loss on the season coming at the hands of Eastside Catholic who went on to win the state title the following week.

Those are the two coaches returning for another season at the helm of a program. The other four are brand new to their positions.

When Jeremy Thielbahr abruptly stepped down from Eastside Catholic, the Crusaders quickly named offensive line coach Dominic Daste as his successor.

Daste inherits a team loaded with talented and very high expectations.

Eastside Catholic has three current players with offers from the Huskies -- 2020 running back Sam Adams and defensive back Ayden Hector as well as 2021 defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau -- and they have more players in the pipeline that Washington will likely eventually be after.

Like all good coaches, don't expect Daste to push players to his alma mater, but it doesn't hurt Washington's chances with those younger players.

Former Husky tailback Deontae Cooper spent the past year as the assistant head coach on Kneip's team but found a new home at Highline High School in Burien.

The Pirates have struggled to win games for quite some time, and over the last five years they've gone 11-38, so Cooper has his work cut out for him, but there is talent in the area, and if he can harness that talent, Cooper may find himself in an enviable position.

John Fiala was a walk-on linebacker with the Huskies after enjoying a solid prep career at Lake Washington High School.

After earning a starting job at Washington, Fiala then went on to play in 75 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998-2002.

Now, Fiala takes on a new challenge as the new head coach at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, a team that has underachieved a bit in recent seasons.

Fiala has headed up their youth football programs and will slide into his new position where he will wind up coaching a lot of the players he helped bring up in their system.

The last name on the list is Todd Bridge, a former walk-on from Elma, who is now the first-year head coach at Aberdeen, a storied program that has fallen on some hard times, going 9-34 over the last five seasons.