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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016 Mattila: ‘It was about turning young boys into men’ because I was coaching the boys,” he said. “And they (the girls’ varsity team) needed a coach.” Over the next 15 years, he amassed 290 wins in basket- ball, won coach of the year four times and reached the playoffs four years in a row between 2007 and 2010. By 2003, Mattila retired from teaching but continued coaching. After the 2011 sea- son, Mattila was taken by sur- prise when the district ired him, citing the need for a change in leadership. Mat- tila retired in Warrenton, and said he has only missed four or ive games since the end of his coaching tenure. Continued from Page 1A Local guy Mattila grew up in Longview, Washington. He played baseball and football, wrestled and helped coach lit- tle league. At Grays Harbor Community College, Mat- tila played football under John Elway’s father Jack and helped coach powderpuff football and softball teams. He then transferred to West- ern Washington University to study teaching. “I like to think that a good coach is a good teacher,” he said. “I enjoy teaching. Coaching is what motivated me to become a teacher.” After graduating in 1970, Mattila got his irst shot at Tillamook High School, where he taught English and coached the football team, irst as assistant and then as head coach. Now the 10th most winningest coach in Oregon football history, Mat- tila was nonetheless ired from Tillamook two years into his irst head coaching job. “We didn’t win enough games,” he said. Tillamook’s loss ended up being Warrenton’s gain. Boys to men Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Former Warrenton High School football coach John Mattila oversees a practice in 2006. Rising Warriors Mattila said he saw an advertisement for a head coaching job with the War- riors, applied and started in 1974 teaching social studies, eventually switching primar- ily to physical education and health. Along with freshmen and junior varsity boys bas- ketball, he started coaching a football team that had never made the state playoffs. Within his third year, War- renton had won its irst league championship in football. Between 1974 and 2011, Mat- tila amassed a record of 252 wins, 129 losses, 15 league championships and 23 trips to the state playoffs, where the Warriors reached the semii- nals several times. His daughter, Allison, reached her junior high school basketball team in 1996, when Mattila took over as head coach. “I wasn’t getting a chance to see my daughter play, “The thing about sports is … you’ve got a carrot that kids want,” he said. “They want to be involved, want to be a part of it, want to be successful. You use that carrot to keep them going in the right direction.” By the time he started high school in 1998, Josh Holla- way said, Mattila was already a prominent igure immedi- ately associated with Warren- ton football. Hollaway was a lineman for Mattila for four years and coached with him from 2007 to 2010. “It wasn’t just about foot- ball,” Hollaway said. “It was about turning young boys into men, and being good people.” Mattila has had many suc- cess stories from his years as a football coach, from one stu- dent, Dusty McGrorty, making it to the NFL, to the many for- mer students who come back to volunteer their time with the school’s sports teams. When former player Tyler McGrorty needed help coaching the 8-year-olds on his youth foot- ball team, he reached out to Mattila for help. “You learn a lot from him,” he said. “And he sees things that I don’t necessarily see, because he’s been doing it for so long.” Deferential to praise, Mat- tila credits the assistants who volunteer their time to coach sports. And with the kids, he said success goes beyond the football ield. “I don’t want to take any credit,” Mattila said of the suc- cess stories. “I think good kids come from good families, and we have had a lot of good kids that have done really well and been successful.” Library: Board found that new library would likely be cheaper, safer Continued from Page 1A into the Waldorf, blending a library with housing and pre- serving the Waldorf, and relo- cating to Heritage Square. The Library Board took no position Tuesday on whether a new library at Heritage Square should contain a housing com- ponent. Consultants have esti- mated that housing on top of a library at Heritage Square could add $15.6 million to $17.8 mil- lion to the price tag. The board instead focused on the potential for a mod- ern library that would meet the needs of the community and could become what David Oser, a board member, described as “a beacon for residents and visitors alike.” A new library could serve as an economic anchor on 12th Street and a spur for downtown redevelopment. The existing library would remain open during construc- tion at Heritage Square, remov- ing the need for a temporary location. The board found that a new library would likely be cheaper and safer to operate than ren- ovating the existing building, either by using the basement or parking lot or by branching into the Waldorf. Consultants have estimated that it would cost $5.7 million to $7.1 million to expand into the basement and $9 million to $10.4 million to go into the parking lot. Expand- ing into the Waldorf would cost between $8.4 million and $9.6 million. Project inancing The city would launch a Submitted Graphic The Library Board has recommended a new library at Heritage Square. fundraising campaign for a library project to help offset the cost to taxpayers. Oser, a banking and inance expert, believes private dona- tions and grant funding would be easier to attract for a new library than for a renovation project. The Library Board approved the recommendation in a 3-0 vote, with Summers, Oser and Susan Stein in support. Board members Kimberley Chaput and Chris Womack were absent. The city has about $1.6 million set aside for a library project, $750,000 in capi- tal improvement money and $872,000 available in the Logan Memorial Library Trust Fund. Some on the City Coun- cil have asked for more details about inancing, but the pre- sumption is that the city will have to ask taxpayers to approve a bond for a project. 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