The Beavers have a new head football coach this season. John Bowers is bringing 29 years of football-coaching experience, at both the high school and college level, to Ballard High School.

Bowers coached last season at Western Washington University where he was the special teams and recruiting coordinator for the 2-8 Vikings. In 2006, Bowers was the linebackers coach for the 12-2 Bothell team that went to the Class 4A state championship.

Ballard News-Tribune: Why did you leave Western for Ballard?

John Bowers: We live in Bothell, so it's a very long commute, and the opportunity to coach closer to home. I've never been a head coach. I've coached 29 years and been an assistant for 29 years. It's an opportunity to run the program the way I think it should be run.

BNT: What are you looking forward to most in this coming season?

JB: The schedule. We've got an awesome schedule. We have a chance to play Skyline, Bothell and Woodinville. We get to face all three of those teams on the road and that's not going to be an easy task. To go across the lake three times will be a tremendous challenge. We've got a great home schedule, too.

BNT: What area of the team are you most concerned about this season?

JB: Creating depth. We want to play a lot of people. We don't just want to play the starters. We want to rotate guys in on defense. We want to rotate receivers and running backs. That's the biggest thing. We have to create competition at a position and that will create depth. That'll be our biggest challenge.

BNT: After all these years, why do you continue to coach football?

JB: I think it's the hardest sport there is. It takes time and a totally unselfish team to have success. There are a lot of teams out there that have a lot of talent that don't win.

The challenge is to take a group of guys and to get them to be unselfish and to trust each other and care about each other. That's not easy. That doesn't happen to very many teams. It's a chance to see kids at their worst and at their best - their happiest moments and their saddest moments - and to be able to coach them through that.

The academic side - I really take that as a challenge. To get a young man who's not very motivated in school and to work with his parents and work to get him where he's really motivated and wants to work to do well in school because he is taking pride in himself. There is probably 25 percent of our team right now that's not very motivated in school. Those are the guys we are really focusing on this summer and trying to change their attitudes.

BNT: What is your greatest strength as a coach?

JB: Passion for the sport.

BNT: Where does that passion come from?

JB: I love the game of football. I think I have a clear vision on how it's supposed to be played and how it's supposed to be coached.

The Beavers finished 5-3 in Kingco League and 5-5 overall last season. Official practices start Aug. 20.