Renton's New Coach Dreams Of Old Glory -- Williams Knows Task Of Reviving Football Tradition Requires Time

RENTON - The wins have diminished with the enrollment and grade-point averages.

Once a football power, Renton High School has slipped into mediocrity the past three seasons, and Chris Williams admits the 1994 campaign might be a struggle, too. But he expects to steadily turn the program around.

All he asks is a little patience.

"There is a tradition here," said Williams, Renton's new head coach, who has experienced the good and the bad as an assistant in the program the past five seasons. "Renton has been known to do well in the past. I want to live up to that. I want to meet those expectations.

" . . . But we're going to be really young. We have a lot of rebuilding to do. We'll have a lot of young players and small numbers.

"The foundation is there. There's a hill to climb. But with the help of the community and the parents and the school administration, we'll be able to compete and be very respectable in one of the best leagues in the state (the Seamount League). There's definitely a pride with our kids. They really want to succeed. Hopefully, I'll be able to provide that leadership for them. What I want more than anything is for them to realize their potential.

"It might be two or three years away, but it's definitely within them."

Williams replaces Tony Davis, who stepped down after three seasons to accept the head-coaching job at Tahoma High, a growing Class AA school eventually headed for Class AAA status. Renton was a small Class AAA school in the 1980s and has faded to a small AA school. Davis often had 25 or fewer eligible players last season, a number also influenced by the Renton School District's 2.0 grade-point requirement.

Despite being one of the smaller schools in the now-defunct Class AAA North Puget Sound League, Renton dominated the final three seasons with a record of 26-1 from 1986 through 1988. Coach Terry Ennis had 9-0 runs in 1986 and '87, taking the '86 squad to the state semifinals.

Ennis resigned after the 1987 season to become head coach at Cascade of Everett, guiding the Bruins to the 1991 state championship. Mark Stewart took over at Renton in 1988 and guided the team to an 8-1 record in the NPSL's final year, sharing the league championship.

Renton dropped to the Class AA Seamount League in 1989 and enjoyed success the first two years, reaching the state quarterfinals both times. Stewart then stepped down to become an assistant at Western Washington University and Davis was hired. The school's five-year playoff run ended with a 5-4 season in 1991, an effort duplicated in '92. The Indians were 4-5 last fall, their first losing season since 1982.

The head-coaching position did not draw many applicants. In a way, Williams had two strikes against him - he has no head-coaching experience and he does not teach at Renton. He is an engineer at Boeing.

Williams, 28, played football in high school, and played and coached in the Navy.

Athletic Director Jock McLaughlin watched Williams coach last fall and was impressed.

"He's an outstanding guy, as far as I'm concerned," McLaughlin said. "He understands the community and the kids.

"He understands what the talent is, but what impressed me the most is he has a pretty good grip on what it's going to take to keep these kids eligible academically."

Williams said the key is establishing good study habits "and letting them know perfectly clear what our expectations are."

-----------------------------------------------------------. Renton's decade of decline. . Year League record Playoffs Coach. . 1984 7-2 NPSL (Cascade Div.) Terry Ennis. . 1985 6-3 NPSL Terry Ennis. . 1986 9-0 NPSL state semifinals Terry Ennis. . 1987 9-0 NPSL 1st round Terry Ennis. . 1988 8-1 NPSL 1st round Mark Stewart. . 1989 7-2 Seamount quarterfinals Mark Stewart. . 1990 8-1 Seamount quarterfinals Mark Stewart. . 1991 5-4 Seamount Tony Davis. . 1992 5-4 Seamount Tony Davis. . 1993 4-5 Seamount Tony Davis.