In Arthurian legend, a seat at the fabled Round Table called the Siege Perilous would destroy any knight who tried to occupy it.
Only men worthy of finding the Holy Grail could fill its seat. Thus, there was regularly an empty chair until a man ready to go on the quest of quests — in Arthurian myth it was Perceval and Galahad — joined the court.
South Whidbey High School’s boys basketball program finds itself in a similar situation. Since 2005, the Falcons have had six different head coaches, with previous head coach Scott Collins leaving for another position, first at Oak Harbor High School and then Mount Vernon High School.
Enter Michael Washington Sr., who could be South Whidbey’s Holy Grail knight or at least someone who can hold the position. He was hired Tuesday and says he is here to stay.
“I will not leave after a season, after two seasons, three seasons,” Washington said. “My plan is to be there as long as they’ll have me.”
Washington joins the Falcons after leading the Oak Harbor varsity boys for the past eight seasons. He resigned in April because he felt he wasn’t ready to give everything the program needed.
During his tenure with the Wildcats, a 3A team in the WESCO league, he led them to consecutive district tournaments from 2011-2013. At the end of the 2013 season, the Wildcats were the second-place team and finished with a winning record for the first time since 1998.
Washington works as a life skills and special education teacher at North Whidbey Middle School. He coached 22 WESCO all-league selections, including nine who went on to play collegiate sports.
After a summer away from spring basketball and camps, he found himself missing the coach’s whistle. Spending time in the gym with his sons Michael Jr. and Drew, who are both playing basketball in college, also fueled his fire to get back on the court.
“It’s the right place, the right time, and it’s the right circumstances,” Washington Sr. said. “The principal is great, the [athletic director] is great.”
“I’m at my happiest when I’m in the gym,” he added.
Washington is known as being an even-tempered coach. Whidbey News-Times sports editor Jim Waller, who coached with him as an assistant for five seasons and has covered Wildcat sports for five years, couldn’t recall Washington ever receiving a technical foul. Washington, however, remembers both technical fouls he’s been called for. One was for being out of the coach’s box, and the other, he says, was deliberate. He let the referee know he was displeased with the overly hostile nature of an opposing team’s crowd until he received the penalty.
Already, Washington has connected with some Falcon players via social media and organized an open gym Friday after school to meet more students.
“The goal is to get them to accept me, to understand that we’re going to work hard,” Washington said. “We’re not going to win every game, but not lose every game.”
Later, he added that his main expectation was borrowed from Proactive Coaching, a Camano-based sports seminar.
“I have one rule for my kids I’ve had for many years, and I got it from Bruce Brown: Don’t let your teammates down,” Washington said.
The Oak Harbor resident and retired Navy man said he is working with the school to sort out practice times, but that he’s able to hold boys practices earlier than they have in past years, which typically ran from 5 to 7 p.m.
