PAGE B10, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 10, 2017
Gragg named McNary AD
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When searching for Mc-
Nary’s next athletic director,
principal Erik Jespersen only
had to look within his own
building.
Of the 19 applicants, which
included athletic directors
from other 6A schools in the
state, Scott Gragg stood out
and not because he’s 6 feet 8
inches tall.
“I’m very excited because
I think we’ve got a superstar,”
Jespersen said. “He’s going to
be amazing for us.”
Gragg is used to being
called a “superstar.” After
graduating from Silverton
High School, he played col-
lege football at the University
of Montana and then spent 11
seasons in the NFL.
Once his playing days
were over, Gragg coached
at his alma matters, fi rst, as
head football coach at Silver-
ton and then as an assistant at
Montana.
When the Grizzlies head
coach retired and Gragg
wasn’t retained, the family de-
cided to stay in Montana for
one more year so his daugh-
ter, Anna, a senior, could fi nish
high school.
Gragg became the prin-
cipal of Fort Benton, a small
K-12 school in Missoula.
Gragg, along with his wife
Toni and son Brian, then
moved back to Oregon with-
out a job and hoping things
would work out. After inter-
viewing at McNary, he was
hired as an instructional coach
before the 2016-17 school
year.
“Erik and I have had an
ongoing conversation for al-
most two years because he
knew I’ve got friends and
family on staff here and really
like what’s going on here at
McNary,” said Gragg, whose
cousin is married to head
football coach Jeff Auvinen.
Assistant Brad Emmert was
also on Gragg’s staff at Silver-
ton.
The athletic director posi-
tion will be Gragg’s third at
McNary in less than a year as
he has also fi lled in as interim
assistant principal in charge of
discipline while Jay Crystal
has been on leave. Gragg will
replace Ron Richards, who is
retiring in July.
“Everyday that I come to
work and every time I get
to interact with Erik and
Ron and (Assistant Princi-
pal) Rhonda (Rhodes) and
(Activity Director and Dean
of Students) Dan (Borresen)
and (head football coach) Jeff
Auvinen and (assistant prin-
cipal) Susanne (Stefani), this
is a great admin team, a great
teaching staff, great kids. It
makes it very rewarding to
come to work everyday.”
Gragg said his greatest ex-
perience for becoming an
athletic director came during
his fi nal two seasons in the
NFL when he traveled from
Salem all the way up the I-5
corridor to Seattle as part of
Coaches Time Out, a national
organization that provides
support to coaches.
“We stopped in almost ev-
ery school, met with the FCA
director and they got us in
touch with coaches and I can’t
think of one school where
a coach didn’t appreciate us
asking how they were doing,
being encouraged and giving
them resources to become a
better coach,” Gragg said. “It
was a huge eye opener to me
that we’ve got these people
that are in the lives of student
athletes that are hungry to be
better leaders and I had an
opportunity based on my ex-
perience and the coaches that
I was around to provide that.
That’s my hope with all of
our coaches at McNary and
everyone at McNary is that I
can be an encouragement to
them.”
While Gragg in known
for his work on the football
fi eld, he has some experience
or knowledge in nearly every
sport, with the exception of
maybe tennis and wrestling.
But Gragg said one of the
tennis coaches has already
helped by placing a glossary
of terms on his desk.
“The kids are the same
and you don’t need to be an
expert in technique or fun-
damentals of tennis to be a
good encourager of a tennis
CELTICS
continued from Page B1
kids played hard. They battled
right until the end and never
quit. It’s just two really good
basketball teams and they
made a couple more plays
than we did.”
Cade Goff led the Celtics
with 20 points.
Ismay, who fouled out
with three minutes to go, and
Chandler Cavell, who played
through an ankle injury, each
had 12.
The loss was the third year
in a row that McNary’s season
has ended in the second round
of the state tournament.
“It’s always emotional at
the end because you never
know when it’s your last
game and all of the sudden
you’re one win away from this
great goal and you fall a little
bit short and you don’t really
envision that being the case,”
Kirch said.
“It’s tough but they’re a
veteran group, they’re mature.
They’re everything that’s right
about high school athletics,
just good friends who love
playing together and repre-
senting their school and fami-
lies and I think when they
look back at the experience
throughout the years that
they’ve been here, they look
at it through a positive light.”
“That was kind of what
swung it there midway
through the third.”
Heating up from behind
the 3-point arc, McNary bat-
tled back, even stealing the
ball with 25 seconds to go
to set up a chance at a game-
tying 3 but the shot didn’t fall.
“At the end, I think our
guys just ran out of gas,”
Kirch said. “I think we were
4-for-13 from the free throw
line and that hurt us. But our
coach and be a connection
with the students, the coaches
and the community and their
parents,” said Gragg, who also
wants to be proactive with
parents. “That’s really impor-
tant to me is to open that
line of communication. I feel
very passionate about protect-
ing coaches and encouraging
them, feeling like they’ve got
an ally and not an adversary.
Those are the things I wake
up every morning thinking
about, how can we improve
those.”
For a kid that grew up in
the area, the McNary AD job
is a blessing.
“To be able to come back
to the Willamette Valley and
work in a community and a
school that are doing things
the right way, it’s a dream
come true,” Gragg said. “I’m
really fortunate and happy to
be here.”
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Scott Gragg will replace Ron Richards, who is retiring effective
July 1, as McNary athletic director.
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