NORMAN — Going to a football game at Washington is like going back in time.
While the Class 6A schools seem to have lost the full community support they once enjoyed, most due to splitting into multiple-school districts, small-town football is still alive and well in Oklahoma.
And going to Washington is special.
The first time I visited Washington, I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was a game night, and driving down the highway, past the pastures and farmland, I got a sense that I was in the middle of nowhere rather than just down the road from my house.
But I quickly warmed to the little town. Partly thanks to the free burger from the baseball team earning money behind the home grandstand, partly thanks to seeing an entire town turn out to watch a football game and cheer on their team. But mostly it was thanks to Dennis McCray, the always-smiling, always-ready-to-chat head coach.
McCray and I have talked about a lot over the past six years. Every conversation seemed to start with how his Warriors were doing on the field, but by the end it was about baseball or graduated players or even some more personal things.
I was shocked last week when I called him to find out what time Washington was practicing Tuesday, and learned that he was no longer the coach.
“After going through spring practice, it was just a feeling I’d never had before,” McCray told me. “The energy to be a head coach was gone. I thought it would be best for the program and me. I didn’t think I could give them my best shot.”
When he was out there, he always gave it his best shot.
After the Warriors started slowly — really slowly — last season, it looked like they may not make the playoffs for the first time in years.
But McCray rallied the troops, and after a couple big road victories, Washington returned to its usual spot in the postseason and won six of its last seven games.
McCray’s a rallier, a motivator. He went 118-33 with the Warriors, and every Washington team I saw on the field in the past six years got its fire and fight from the head coach. The coaching staff took his lead and it fed down through to the special teams and freshmen.
But being a prep coach isn’t the same as it used to be. They don’t get summers off like most of the teaching staff. They work much longer hours for just a small amount more in pay, and they’re charged with not only shaping the possible future careers of athletes, but shaping them as men, too.
“It was a tough decision, but I talked about it with my family and made the decision to step down,” McCray said.
McCray’s son still plays on the team under new coach Brad Beller. Beller seems like the perfect fit for Washington. He played and coached under McCray before taking over and reviving the program at Lexington.
But it just won’t seem the same without the raspy, passionate voice of McCray coming from the red-and-white sideline.
There are things McCray will miss, of course. He won’t miss the long hours and the summer workouts, but when coaching is in someone’s blood and he or she is successful at it, it’s hard to let it go.
“You’ll miss the camaraderie with coaches and players, but the rest of it was starting to be a grind,” McCray said. “Film watching on Saturdays and Sundays, never having a day off is really tough. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I thought it was best.”
You can still see McCray teaching and coaching on a sideline this fall, though. He still has plenty to pass on and he hasn’t given up coaching completely.
He’s on the Norman High sideline now, helping the Tigers’ freshman squad.
“It just popped up,” McCray said. “It’s not near as time-consuming and not as much pressure. Kids are kids and football’s football. They’re eager to learn and it’s a lot of fun.”
Having McCray helping out NHS’ younger players can only be a good thing for the varsity Tigers.
But he’ll be missed on the Washington field, with the truck horns blaring and the grandstands full on a fall Friday night.
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
