On Monday, Tenino High School introduced Darren Tinnerstet as its new head football coach. Tinnerstet takes over for Cary Nagel, who resigned last month.
“I feel incredibly blessed that we were able to find a coach with the knowledge, passion and tools to continue to build on our team's successes and help them reach the next level,” Tenino Athletic Director Nick Bamer said in a statement. “I’m so excited for our players and community to get to know Coach T and the future of our football program.”
Tinnerstet’s coaching career began in 2004 at Capital under coach Wayne Sortun, who he played for while in high school.
As quarterback and captain of the team in 1996, Tinnerstet led the Cougars to their first state title.
In 2010, Tinnerstet took the head coaching job at Sehome, where he was for two seasons before returning to Capital as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under J.D Johnson, a role he held until 2016.
In 2017, just weeks before the start of the season, Tinnerstet took over as the interim head coach, leading the Cougars to a 3-6 record.
Now in a similar spot with just over two weeks until the start of training camp on Aug. 16, Tinnerstet is excited to “hit the ground running.”
“It’s gonna be challenging,” he said. “But we’re just gonna dive head-first into it and start playing football.”
On the field, Tinnerstet said his background is in the Wing-T offense, but he has developed his offense into a Pistol-I scheme.
While the focus will be on running the football, Tinnerstet also said he isn’t afraid to go to the air and get the ball in his playmakers hands.
“We mixed it up at Capital depending on the personnel we had,” Tinnerstet said. “There are some really good athletes at Tenino now. I know they’ve run the Power-T in the past, but we might expand on that a little bit and get these athletes involved in the offense.”
Defensively, Tinnerstet runs what he calls a “Hybrid 3-3” that focuses on getting after the quarterback with consistent pressure.
He brings with him many assistant coaches that he coached with at Capital, and together they are excited to build on the success the Beavers have had over the last two years.
Under Nagel, Tenino went a combined 19-4 over the last two seasons, including a league title in 2022, the school’s first since 2013.
“Coach Nagel has built this program up. It’s not a rebuild,” Tinnerstet said. “This program — what I call locked and loaded, it’s turn-key.”
The Tenino job also presented a special opportunity for Tinnerstet and his family, one with deep Tenino roots.
Tinnerstet has lived in Stone City since 2018, but his wife, Kandra, is a 2002 Tenino graduate. Kandra’s grandmother, Jean Pettit, also had a stint as the town’s mayor in the late 90s and early 2000s.
“That’s probably the most intriguing part for me when this came up, was how connected we feel to this community,” Tinnerstet said. “We just hope we can continue what the previous staff started.”
It’s a quick turnaround for Tinnerstet and the Beavers, who will open the season on Sept. 1 against Colville.
Even with that date quickly approaching, however, Tinnerstet is confident in himself, his staff and the players to be prepared for the opener.
“This is tough for them this close to the season, but we’re just gonna do our best at this stage to focus on football and get ready,” Tinnerstet said.
“We gotta get to work. But I think kids are pretty resilient and they’ll adapt pretty well and we’ll get after it.”
