Q&A With Bonney Lake High’s New Head Football Coach Jason Silbaugh

At Lakes High School, Jason Silbaugh wore many hats: football defensive coordinator, social studies teacher and throwing coach for the track team.

Now, he’s on to a new chapter in life as head football coach at Bonney Lake High School, beginning the 2012-2013 football season.

Patch sat down with Silbaugh and discussed his passion for football, teaching and what he has in store for Panther Football. 

There have been some very divisive moments in Panther Football this year, with . How will you gain the trust of the team?

My biggest thing is, we are not look back and we are starting over. This is a new beginning and I’m going to do things how I do things, which involves building relationships. I’m not a big believer in looking into the past and I don’t want the kids looking in the past, either.

I wanted to make sure the second that my contract was finalized that I got in front of the kids. We had a 30-minute meeting and I got to meet each player and shook their hands. They seem really excited and ready to start moving forward.

What goals do you have for the Bonney Lake Football team this upcoming season?

One goal I have is to strive and be a positive influence in the community, starting with positive personal attitudes. Outside looking in, I see some areas where I think they can be more positive role models at school and leaders in the community.

We need to be part of Bonney Lake High School – not just known as the Bonney Lake football program. We are part of the school just as much as the band, ASB and cheerleaders are. Football is just a small portion of that, but it’s high profile and we need to set the standard of positive leadership, sportsmanship and show others what it means to be a Panther.

Football-wise, they’re a tough group of athletes and I want to make sure I feed that.

My expectation is that we will be physical, tough and aggressive.

What team are you keeping your eye on this season to beat?

Well Lakes, obviously. But if you worry too much about what you’re opponents are doing, you lose sight of the main goal – which is focusing on coaching this team. The team I will focus on most is Bonney Lake. When you focus too much on other teams, you lose sight of things.

There are certain games that are big for the players and a big goal of mine is to get them mentally ready to play. To me as a coach, it’s just a game. We have to focus on what we do, what we can control and the rest will take care of itself.

You’ve been with Lakes High School since 2004. Will it be hard for you to leave that team behind?

Absolutely. I’ve been there for 8 years, it’s been tough to say goodbye. I’ve had 5 former players go to the U.S. All-American Bowl and watched one of my former players get to go to the Seattle Seahawks Academy. I’ve watched these kids grow up. In just one family at Lakes, I’ve taught three brothers and four cousins.

Right now I’m just trying to finish out right at Lakes. I tell my players that when you start something, you finish something. On the track team, I’ve got 12 throwers participating at the state championships so I’m helping them finish their seasons strong, too.

What do you think the biggest difference will be between coaching at Lakes and coaching at BLHS?

I think the biggest difference will be working with a military community versus a non-military community. At Lakes, 67 percent of our students came from military families, so we were coaching a lot of kids whose parents are gone in Iraq, or who have had to move around a lot, or who get transported out of our district.

Here, I see more stability, as far as that goes.

What drew you to the head football coach position at Bonney Lake?

There were a lot of appealing things about this job. We play them in the league, so I know the kids somewhat already. In SPSL, we kind of all know each other already. There are also a couple teachers at BLHS whom I’ve known for years, so it’s a good fit.

What can you tell us about you, personally?

The two most important things to me are my wife of 8 years and our 3-year-old son. Besides that, my hobbies involve having fun with them. I’m also trying to read a lot more. I used to enjoy fishing but haven’t done that in a while. I love golf.

What’s your favorite NFL team?

Being a high school football coach doesn’t leave me a lot of time to watch the NFL, surprisingly. But if I had to pick a team, I’d say the Seahawks by default.

How would you describe your coaching personality?

The biggest thing for me is mentoring the kids. I always look at the person first, student second, athlete third. If you can build good young men, the running, plays and football stuff will all fall into place. My biggest philosophy is to get them stable, so they can be good sons and fathers someday. Winning comes after all that.

I’m not a negative coach, and I don’t rule by fear. Sometimes I have to step in and be a little more assertive, but it’s for the learning experience.

The biggest thing I have my coaches do at Lakes – when a student makes a mistake, I ask them, what did you do, and what did you see? This is part of their growth process – we’re football educators first. That’s my philosophy – build good men and victory will come.