Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff contemplates leaving football program

Butch Goncharoff, who has a state-best 11 championships in 16 years, said he will make a decision next week on whether to return as the coach of the Bellevue High School football team.

“I’m going to talk with my wife and family and make some decisions on whether I want to do this thing anymore,” Goncharoff said. “It’s been the longest year of my life.”

Bellevue’s football program has come under fire this season following a string of Seattle Times reports outlining a trainer accused of intimidating a player, a private institution players attended that was labeled a “diploma mill,” and another this week saying Bellevue coaches wooed middle-school athletes from Tacoma and Spanaway among other locations.

Goncharoff was temporarily suspended at the beginning of the season over recruiting. Longtime assistant coach Pat Jones wrote an August letter denying the program’s wrongdoing.

“Nobody should go through what these kids and what I’ve had to go through in a year for not doing anything,” Goncharoff said.

He declined to comment on whether he would return next season, only to say “I think that’s for next week.”

“I won’t make the decision after a loss,” Goncharoff said. “But I will make the decision with my family.”

Bellevue lost to Eastside Catholic in the 3A state title game Friday in the Tacoma Dome for the second consecutive season after his team took a 42-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

Goncharoff was 11-0 in state title games before Bellevue’s 67-game win streak and run of six consecutive titled was ended by Eastside Catholic in last season’s state title.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff contemplates leaving football program."