Heritage coach finds new job

When Nate Becksted resigned after five seasons as head football coach at Heritage, he said it was because he wanted to find a job closer to the Northern California towns where he and his wife grew up.

He said he was seeking a job that was within a three-hour drive of Eureka, Calif.

This week, he found it.

Becksted was introduced Thursday as the new football coach at North Medford High School.

The Meford Mail Tribune reported that Becksted sold administrators at North Medford to hire him after running some Black Tornado players through a demonstration of Becksted’s pass-oriented offense.

The Mail Tribune also reported some facts that caught our eye, stating that Heritage had a 24-23 record under Becksted and made the “state playoffs” four times.

Well, not quite.

By our count, the Timberwolves were 23-26 in Becksted’s tenure, and they never actually qualified for the state playoffs. They made the state preliminary round — the games you need to win to advance to the 16-team state tournament — each of the last four seasons. But the T-Wolves lost all four. They made those state preliminary games the last two years with regular-season records of 4-5 and 3-6.

But the Timberwolves did have more success under Becksted than before he arrived. Heritage had five consecutive losing seasons before Becksted took over.

Becksted plans to complete the school year teaching at Heritage before making the move to Medford.

Becksted is a good guy, and always pleasant to work with. So we at The Columbian sports staff wish him all the luck in Southern Oregon. And, who knows, maybe we’ll see the Black Tornado in Clark County sometime soon for a non-league contest.

To read the full Mail Tribune report, click here.

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