Longtime Graham-Kapowsin football coach Eric Kurle stepping down
After 28 years as a high school head football coach, Graham-Kapowsin’s Eric Kurle is stepping down, planning to begin the “next chapter” of his life. His career included stops at Clover Park, Bethel and Graham-Kapowsin. Kurle and his wife, Erika, plan to move to the Lake Chelan area, where they bought a house two years ago.
“We really fell in love with our place in Chelan, love living over there,” said Kurle, 54. “We have some good friends over there. I’ve lived in Pierce County all my life. We need a change of pace.”
After some close calls over the years, Kurle finally won the state title last fall that had eluded him during his high school coaching career. He led the Eagles to a 14-0 record, capped off by a 44-7 win over Lake Stevens in the Class 4A state championship game, which concluded one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory in Washington.
Graham-Kapowsin went on to beat nationally-ranked Georgia 7A state champion Collins Hill in a nationally televised GEICO Series bowl game in Las Vegas. Walking away with a title probably made the decision easier, but Kurle said he had been thinking of stepping down for a while.
“A couple years ago, I started thinking, one year, two years, maybe three or four,” Kurle said. “(The state title) was a nice way to end it, put a ribbon on it. It was really starting to get tiring. It’s basically year-round.”
The difficulty of coaching during the pandemic — cancellations, scheduling changes, social distancing protocols, testing requirements, etc. — took its toll on Kurle. He walks away with a 236-74 career coaching record, which included 10 league titles and 25 trips to the playoffs. Aside from the wins, Kurle said he’s enjoyed the connections the most.
“The relationships I’ve built with kids, coaches throughout the community,” Kurle said. “Being able to coach, seeing kids out in youth football, then they become G-K Eagles football players, I’ve seen some of these kids play since third grade.”
Kurle plans to stay involved with football, taking a consulting or assistant coaching job with Chelan High School, a Class 1A school. It’ll be nice to not have to deal with all the administrative duties that come along with a head coaching gig, Kurle said.
“I’ve only been an assistant coach two years (of my career),” Kurle said. “I never got to sit back and just coach.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:09 PM.
