‘IN THE BLOOD’

HOUSTON — When Todd Whitehurst was presented with the opportunity to become the next head coach of the Houston High School football program, the longtime football assistant looked back on his coaching career.

The East Anchorage High graduate and former collegiate lineman at Southern Oregon University, spent time with a handful of large schools programs in Southcentral Alaska. He’s served as both an offensive and defensive coordinator, and was on the coaching staff of a pair of state championship teams.

With all of that in his past, Whitehurst knew he was ready for his future as the head coach of the Houston Hawks football squad.

“That all went into the decision to take this job,” said Whitehurst, who succeeds longtime Houston mentor Norm Bouchard as the Hawks head coach. “Was I ready? I know I am now.”

In reality, Whitehurst has prepared for this moment his whole life. He’s the son of longtime Alaska football coach Mark Whitehurst, a man who has spent four decades on the sidelines.

“It’s definitely in the blood,” Whitehurst said. “I saw my father as a coach my whole life. I saw how we dealt with different situations, dealt with students, dealt with coaches, dealt with administration.”

Whitehurst had the chance to both play for and coach alongside his father, and his dad is one of a number of notable head coaches for whom Whitehurst has worked. The list reads like a who’s who of Southcentral football.

He’s served on the staffs of Duncan Shackleford, Jim Shetter, Derek Brewer and Roger Spackman. He spent the last year with Bouchard, a 15-year veteran of coaching football in Alaska.

“I’ve been pretty blessed,” Whitehurst said. “It’s been great. There are so many different styles (of coaching).”

But despite contrasting styles, Whitehurst said he can draw parallels between some of these top coaches. If a number of those coaches did something a certain way, they must have been doing something right, he said.

Whitehurst has coached on both sides of the ball during his career as an assistant. He was an offensive coordinator at Dimond and a defensive coordinator at East and Wasilla.

Whitehurst said he came up through the ranks with an emphasis on offense, but valued his opportunity to coach defense.

“Switching to the other side of the ball allowed me to see things a lot differently,” Whitehurst said. “It really helped me as a coach to see both sides, see tendencies on both sides.”

He also was the offensive coordinator for the Hawks in 2011.

While Whitehurst has known he wanted to be a head coach someday, the longtime Anchorage area assistant admitted there was a time where he never thought he’d head a program at a school with a student population of just more than 425.

At one point, Whitehurst was considered Dimond’s coach in waiting. But his priorities changed when Whitehurst landed a position at Burchell High School in Wasilla.

“I absolutely fell in love with the kids at this school,” Whitehurst said. “My focus was working with at-risk youth.”

After Whitehurst relocated to the Mat-Su Valley, he was recruited by Shetter and started coaching at Wasilla. Shetter has a long connection with the Whitehurst family.

Whitehurst spent a season with Shetter and another with former Wasilla head coach Glenn Nelson.

Before the 2011 season, a teacher Whitehurst works with at Burchell — Houston defensive coordinator Jared Barrett — told him about the Hawks’ vacancy on the coaching staff.

“It really worked out,” Whitehurst said. “I really didn’t know what to expect going in, but I fell in love with it.”

Whitehurst said leading a program with a participation rate radically different than the Anchorage area squads he had been used to is an adjustment. But it’s something he’s embraced.

“That’s a unique obstacle at Houston High School, it really is,” Whitehurst said. “When you have 12 guys for a varsity practice three days before a game, nobody’s dealing with that in our conference right now.”

Whitehurst used an example of a day the Hawks had a C-team game scheduled. About two-thirds of the players suited up for that game, leaving only a dozen for the varsity coaches to work with.

“I think we were lucky to have 38 (players),” Whitehurst said.

That’s a challenge, Whitehurst said, but he said he feels Bouchard spent his eight years as head coach pointing the program in the right direction.

Whitehurst is a 1993 graduate of East Anchorage. He was an offensive tackle, defensive end and kicker for the Thunderbirds. Whitehurst played right offensive guard at Southern Oregon.

He started his coaching career at Dimond, and was on the staff that led the Lynx to state championships in 2000 and 2001. He coached with the Lynx through 2004, before making the move to his alma mater in 2005.

His also made a stop at Wasilla before settling in at Houston.

Bouchard, who also serves as Houston’s activities director, has been with the Hawks since the team’s inception 15 seasons ago. Bouchard stepped down at the end of the season to spend more time with family. See frontiersman.com/sports for more on Bouchard’s retirement as head coach.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.