Tyler Gedney has been around Lewis County for several years. He’s from the area, dating back to his days as a prep. He’s had coaching stops in the heart of Lewis County.
So when he was interviewing for the head coach position for the Centralia High School football team, Gedney made a lasting impression on a statement.
“I want this to be my first job and last job,” Gedney stated.
He’ll have that opportunity.
Gedney was officially hired as the new head coach of the Tigers following school board approval on Monday. He takes over for Jon Rooklidge, who stepped down after a longtime stint as an assistant and two years in the head role.
A graduate of Rochester High School in 2014, Gedney has already had a team meeting and put together an offseason training and weight lifting program.
He didn’t want to waste any time.
“There is so much potential here. The kids are so excited,” Gedney said. “We got some underclassmen that are really talented. I think it is a great opportunity.”
Gedney was a three-year starting quarterback for the Warriors. He led them to a six-win season in his senior year, a five-win improvement from his sophomore campaign.
Coaching was always in his future plans.
It was at his alma mater, where he spent a year before college; then after college, helping at W.F. West for a year. A teaching job opened up at Centralia three years ago and he jumped at the opportunity.
Gedney added football, girls and boys basketball and track coaching responsibilities to his deck.
“The biggest thing — especially doing multiple sports — I’ve developed the ability to reach different kids and bring the best out of them,” Gedney said. “Ever since I got here, I had the goal of having this job.”
Now, he’s got it.
Centralia is coming off a winless season where its closest game was an overtime home loss to R.A. Long. It graduated all-league offensive lineman David Daarud plus will have a new starting quarterback, running back and some pieces on defense.
Still, Gedney is optimistic about the future of the program.
“We’re not looking in the past at all, we laid that down in our first team meeting,” he said. “Setting the expectation that winning is the standard. We’re building a winning football culture.”
One of his first priorities was to get Centralia into the Thurston County Youth Football League in order to develop the elementary and middle school athletes.
He’ll have a bounty of newcomers over the next two years that he’s seen grow from the middle school field.
“It helps that we have some classes coming up that (spend) their whole lives winning football games,” Gedney said.
More than anything, Gedney wants a competitive program. He witnessed first-hand improvement from his playing days at Rochester.
He gets the chance to do it for a team that hasn’t made the Class 2A playoffs in a handful of years.
“Just create a football program of winning and be proud they were a pair of the Tiger family,” Gedney said.
