Thacker to coach Lake City
Jim Thacker hadn’t applied for a job in nearly three decades. That explains why he fumbled around filling out an application and had to dust off his resume.
He felt a little awkward, too, during his interview Tuesday afternoon for the Lake City High boys basketball job. But he must have done something right because the nine-person interview committee didn’t need long to unanimously select Thacker as the school’s next head coach. The recommendation to hire Thacker will go before the school board for approval at the next board meeting.
Now, Thacker, 57, must fill out more paperwork when he returns to Walla Walla, where he will resign after a 29-year career as the Blue Devils’ head coach and apply for retirement as a Washington teacher.
Thacker will replace Kris Knowles at LC. Knowles resigned after two seasons for what he termed personal reasons.
When Thacker takes over at LC, he will draw his pension from Washington while beginning what he hopes is at least five years toward a retirement in Idaho.
“I looked at my credentials (on my resume) and the top three (references) were people who had died already,” Thacker said. “I knew I wasn’t going to nail the job with those kinds of references. So I had to go out and find new ones. It’s been 30 years since I filled out an application for a teaching job.”
In a way, Thacker’s coaching career has come full circle. A Spokane native who played at the University of Idaho – his late father, Ray, had a highly successful career at Central Valley – Thacker started his career in 1970 in Gooding, Idaho, where he coached his only two teams there to back-to-back 2A state titles.
He left Gooding for two years at Omak, Wash., before winding up at Walla Walla. In 33 years, his overall coaching record is 493-304. In 29 years at Walla Walla, Thacker’s teams were 395-298 with a State 4A title in 1999 and state runner-up finish.
“It’s not every day that you get opportunities to hire a coach like Coach Thacker,” said LC athletic director Jim Winger, the school’s first head coach until Knowles. “He’s an outstanding educator. We’re beyond excited – we’re ecstatic. He’s a future Hall of Fame coach in Washington. I don’t know how we could have gotten a better coach.”
Thacker was one of four finalists. The three others were former Rogers girls and Newport boys coach Bill Hughes, East Valley coach Steve Henderson and LC freshman boys coach Royce Johnson.
The other candidates interviewed Monday. Thacker had to change his interview to Tuesday after his mother, Irene Thacker, passed away last Wednesday. Her funeral was Monday in Spokane.
Thacker ranks 17th on Washington’s all-time career coaching list. His father, whose overall record was 473-180, ranks 13th.
Thacker said he’s contemplated retirement in Washington the past three years. The LC job is the first he applied for, he said. He said his wife, Jan, needs to teach 2½ more years in Washington to qualify for a full pension.
“I still have quite a few more good years left in me,” said Thacker, who teaches history. “I’m not finished coaching and I like teaching. Some people get burned out in the classroom and every teacher has their good and bad days. But I like being in the classroom.”
Thacker is looking forward to starting over at LC.
“I think it’s going to be a great situation,” said Thacker, whose youngest brother, Mike, is the head boys coach at Freeman.
Walla Walla went through a rebuilding season this year, finishing 6-14. It was a challenging yet rewarding season, Thacker said, because he thought six wins was quite an accomplishment.
Thacker said he will push for nine-year assistant coach John Golden to be his replacement at Walla Walla. Golden played for Thacker.
Thacker hopes to return to LC late next week and meet with prospective players, their parents and boosters.