NEW DIRECTION

WASILLA — After playing four years of football at Linfield College, Kent Rilatos took the reins of a prep program from a small school in Western Oregon. Even though the Toledo High program drew from a school with a student body not much more than 300, Rilatos said his team earned a reputation of never backing down from a challenge.

Now, Rilatos wants to bring that same attitude to Wasilla High. Rilatos has been named the new head coach of the Wasilla High football program, succeeding Glenn Nelson, who will not return for a third season with the team.

“(At Toledo) we were the smallest school, but we had the reputation of playing anybody on any field at any time,” Rilatos said Friday. “A lot of that is because we created a passion for football. We were the smallest school in the area, but we weren’t afraid to take on anybody. That’s the attitude Wasilla has to take.”

With that type of attitude, Rilatos hopes he and his staff can take the program to the next level.

“The community is starved for a successful program,” Rilatos said. “We want to meet that need for the community, meet that need for the school. That’s what I strive to do.”

Rilatos, Wasilla’s varsity offensive line coach last season, inherits a program that has featured three head coaches in the last seven years. In addition to his time on the Warrior sideline — he was also on the WHS staff in 2007 — Rilatos served as an assistant at Palmer and Colony. The Warriors have not enjoyed the success of their Valley rivals in recent memory, but Rilatos said his goal is to bring a few things to the Warrior program that have allowed Palmer and Colony to have success, most notably stability on the sidelines.

“I’ve seen what’s great about every program, Palmer having the same coaches for the last 15-plus years, Colony, working with that program. Stability is essential to the success of the program,” Rilatos said.

Rilatos said he’ll work to surround himself with quality assistants. He’s already asked former Wasilla football standout Abe Salmon to return to the staff. He also has a few other veteran coaches in mind who he’d like on his team.

Wasilla High assistant principal Dan Michael said the experience coaching in Oregon and Alaska, combined with a college playing career that included honorable mention All-American honors as an offensive lineman at NAIA Linfield, made Rilatos an attractive candidate.

“He was a head coach in Oregon and played college football at a real strong program at Linfield,” Michael said. “He’s got pretty good contacts throughout the Valley.”

Rilatos moved to the Valley in 2000 and found a spot on the Palmer High staff in 2001. He coached the Moose offensive line for two seasons and helped the team advance to the large-school semifinals in 2002.

“They gave me my first chance,” Rilatos said of Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen and his staff. “I really enjoyed working with them.”

Rilatos later made the move to Colony to join forces with fellow Linfield graduates David Russell and Jamie Mayo. Russell, the offensive coordinator, and Mayo, the head coach, were installing the Linfield College offense and its zone blocking scheme, something very familiar to Rilatos.

Rilatos said he may bring a bit of the Linfield scheme to Wasilla, but his offense will not be based on the zone blocking attack.

“Variations, but we’re not going to be a mirror of Colony,” Rilatos said. “We’ll base the offense around the option a little bit.”

The main thing, Rilatos said, is he plans to keep the offense simple. Rilatos said he will start with five basic plays, and his athletes will master those first.

“Once we have those five plays, we’ll go to a sixth play,” Rilatos said.

Rilatos said he’s seen high school offenses grow much too complicated.

“There’s no reason to have 80 or 100 plays,” Rilatos said. “The kids will know the bread and butter (plays) and the variations of each play you run.”

By keeping it simple, Rilatos said his athletes can focus on playing hard at full speed.

“It just becomes automatic,” Rilatos said.

On defense, Rilatos said he prefers the 3-4 scheme (a base package with three down linemen and four linebackers), but will wait until he hires his defensive coordinator before settling on his base defensive package.

Rilatos said he will emphasize the importance of strength training and the offseason workout program.

“If you’re not in a spring sport, you’ll be in the weight room. If you’re not in a summer club sport, you’ll be in the weight room,” Rilatos said.

Rilatos said the new era starts with a clean slate, which includes a battle for the starting position at every spot on the field.

“We’ve got some athletes back and I spoke to a few of them,” Rilatos said. “They all have to earn their spots in this program.”

Rilatos was a decorated offensive lineman who helped lead his team to the NAIA Division II national championship game as a senior in 1992. He was named first-team all-conference and honorable mention All-American that season. Rilatos followed with his seven-year stay as the head coach of Toledo High.

Rilatos said he wants to build a playoff team with athletes of character. The Warriors advanced to the large-schools state title game in 1999, but have qualified for the playoffs only three times since then.

“I want people to know when they play Wasilla, they’ve played a class team,” Rilatos said. “A team that works hard, plays hard and plays with class.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.