Medical Lake hires football, hoop coaches

Medical Lake has looked within to fill its football and girls basketball coaching vacancies.

Rick Olson, who has an extensive college background, but who was the Cardinals defensive coordinator last year, will assume the head football position.

Val Von Lehe, who was ML’s girls basketball coach between 1984 and 1992, is returning to the helm.

Olson, 49, said the decision to settle down after a peripatetic life as a college assistant led to his ultimately landing the football job.

He had coached at varying times with Portland State, Eastern Washington University and Weber State, among stops that included junior high and high school.

“College coaching is like being in the military,” Olson said. “You have to pack up and move. I was once in four states in five months. It was truly a college coaching experience. My wife and I had just married. (In 1999) we made a decision where to live and decided to make our home in Cheney.”

He coached at Whitworth for four years before joining ML’s staff last year. He replaces Mike Henry, whose lone year with the Cardinals resulted in a 2-8 record.

Olson said this year’s Cardinals will change philosophy a bit and get the ball on the perimeter more than in past seasons.

“Medical Lake has always been an ‘I’ formation football team with big backs and linemen,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have that.”

Because of a strong staff, he said he doesn’t intend to micromanage.

“I enjoyed the college game,” said Olson. “I learned so much from other coaches. I’ve taken a little bit of all that knowledge and will apply it.”

Von Lehe had three state-qualifying teams, including a fourth-place finisher, before stepping down when she married and had a child, now in sixth grade.

“When I resigned, I didn’t have the intention of coming back,” she said. “(But) I love the program and love these kids. When it came open it seemed the timing was perfect.”

As the replacement for Sandy Zimmerman, she doesn’t expect much change.

“Sandy did a good job of developing the program and there’s a lot of talent out here,” Von Lehe said. “It will be more fine-tuning. I’m going to fill in places that need filling.”

The mental part of the game and defense, she said, will be areas of emphasis.

Von Lehe played ball at Yakima Valley College and Eastern before a knee injury ended her career. She has more than 20 years in education.

“I have eight years to retirement and am hoping to keep (coaching) that long,” she said, “unless I feel I can’t get the job done. I definitely want to give it a go.”

Zimmerman led the program for six years. She inherited a team that struggled through a 53-game losing streak and turned it competitive.