Kent Leaves Football Job At W. Valley Principal Asks Vet Coach To Resign After Two Straight Losing Seasons

After 13 years, Steve Kent has resigned as head football coach at West Valley High School.

Kent, whose resignation had been requested by the school principal, made the announcement last Wednesday during the team’s end-of-the-season awards banquet.

“I think it’s probably for the best,” said Kent, who compiled a 50-66-4 record with two league championships. “It will be hard because it’s not something I planned to do.”

The Eagles are coming off a second straight 2-7 season with basically an all-junior lineup.

“I stopped and looked at me,” he said. “I decided if I stepped out it would be the best for football. Change does rejuvenate a program.”

A 1974 West Valley graduate, Kent returned to his alma mater upon graduation from college, assisting for seven years before becoming head coach.

During his 20-year tenure, the Eagles won four Frontier League championships and made six state playoff appearances, finishing second in 1984 with Kent as defensive coordinator.

His first three years as head coach they were 24-6, winning league titles in 1986 and ‘87.

But the Eagles did not have a winning season after 1990, going 4-4-1 in both 1994 and 1995.

Kent said that following last year he probably should have quit, but stubbornly hung on.

“That team was way better than 2-7 and I didn’t want to end on that note,” he said.

The future looked good. This year’s Eagles team was athletic, if young. WV had its largest freshman turnout in years.

Wins and losses, however, are the public’s measuring stick for coaching success. Another 2-7 season prompted a call for change.

“Steve went out with a tremendous amount of dignity and made a heckuva lot of difference for kids here,” said WV principal Cleve Penberthy, who asked for Kent’s resignation. “There are times, however, you have to look at the overall health of the program.”

Penberthy said the search for a replacement would begin after Christmas break and that a coach would likely come from outside the district.

Kent will remain the WV softball coach.His softball teams have made 11 state tournament trips in 13 years.

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