Warrior Coach

Rick Hampson with USA today wrote in the August 29, 2011 online issue, Idaho Prep Football Coach Starts Over After Return from War. I have kept in touch with Coach Richins since then and wanted to offer a follow up to this fine article.

On August 4, 2011, Dwight Richins stepped off of a plane from Afghanistan and stepped onto a football field to resume his duties as head coach of the Shelley High School Russets football team. Since getting off of that plane, The Russets have compiled a 3-2 record and are preparing to face their toughest opponent of the season, Blackfoot, this Thursday evening.

Shelley Idaho a rural district in Eastern Idaho. The school closes down for two weeks in the fall so the students can work on their family farms. This forces a football team to practice in the late evening during this break.

While his students and players were out working, Coach Richins shared a call with me to talk about his coaching career.

“I played several positions on the football team at West Jefferson High School (Tarreton ID). I was able to learn a lot about the game and thought I would like to be a coach.” While in college, Dwight married Allyson Farmer, his high school sweetheart from Butte high school in Arco, Idaho. At the time, he was considering several other fields, including medicine and accounting when he sat down with the head football coach, Jim Koetter at Idaho State University. Thinking bacl to his love of school and sports he decided to work on his dream of being a teacher and coach.

Richins’s first coaching assignment was while he was still a student at Idaho State. He helped coach the sophomore team at Highland High School in Pocatello, under varsity head coach Dirk Koetter. Koetter is currently the offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Between 1984 and 2001, he returned to his alma mater and coached at West Jefferson, moving to Valley, Raft River, and Teton High Schools. At Teton he won his first of what would be 5 Idaho State Titles. Also while he was at Teton, he was promoted to assistant principal. This promotion proved to be bitter sweet for Coach Richins because as an administrator at Teton, he was not allowed to coach. He spent the 2001 season in a vice-principal’s office and not along the sidelines.

A good friend at Shelley High School, knew that Dwight wanted to get back into coaching and was able to persuade Vice Principal Dwight Richins to come to Shelley and be the Athletic Director and teach. While at Shelley, he was later promoted to assistant principal. Shelley still allowed him to coach the football team and track team. He has earned a state title in football in all the odd numbered seasons since 2002, bring his total to 5, including the one earned at Teton.

While in college Dwight enlisted in the Idaho National Guard and entered the ROTC program. He became 2^nd lieutenant, moving up through the ranks to lieutenant colonel, his current rank. His first deployment was the one he recently served from August of 2010 to August of 2011.

Service to others and participation in sports is common among the Richins family. His wife Allyson is a certified nursing assistant at Teton Valley Hospital in Driggs, Idaho. His oldest son Tyler, 29, served a mission with the LDS church in Ireland before joining the National Guard. His daughter Aubrey Young, 26, lives in Spanish Forks Utah and worked for an internet sales company and served as cheerleading advisor at Timpanogos High School before giving birth to twin boys in January of 2010. While in high school, Aubrey was head cheerleader at Teton, during Richins’s first year at Shelley. His second son, Shane, 23, was a wide receiver on his father’s 2005 state championship team. He also was as star wrestler and shortstop for the Russets. His youngest son Chase, 20, is in his eleventh month of serving a mission in the Dominican Republic and is a former “Faces in the Crowd” in Sports Illustrated. Although Richins never achieved the Eagle rank in scouting, all three of Dwight’s boys have attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

As Coach Richins stepped off the plane this past August 4, he reflected on his service in Afghanistan, but more importantly to him, he knew he had a football season to complete. With Blackfoot Thursday night and his next two games after that being conference opponents, He is focusing on finishing in the top three of his conference so he can continue to earn the title, "Mr. November."

Good luck in that quest Coach Richins and thank you for your service to the United States.

Tyler, Dwight, Shane standing.Chase kneeling with 2009 Idaho State Trophy.

Tyler, Shane, Allyson, Dwight and Chase with 2009 trophy

Aubrey Young with son Aden