By James Day
The Silverton High football program lost just once last season in a magnificent 12-1 year that saw the Foxes claim their first state title since 1991. Now, the school has hired the coach who dealt them that lone defeat.
Dan Lever of Tualatin has taken over the Foxes from Josh Craig, who stepped down in January because of family obligations. Lever was 39-15 in five years as the head coach of the Class 6A Timberwolves, who outlasted the Foxes 35-28 last Sept. 10 in a non-league matchup.
Lever’s T-Wolves advanced to the 6A title game before falling to Central Catholic. Craig’s Foxes downed Thurston 26-20 in the 5A title game, which left Craig’s record 41-11 overall and 8-3 in the playoffs.
“They were tough, real tough, very tough, that’s what I saw,” Lever told Our Town of that Sept. 10 contest, which ended with the Foxes inside the Tualatin 5-yard line. ”They were well-coached, the kids played hard… that’s a great program at the high school level.”
Lever, a Canby native, already knows a bit about the Silverton area as he and his family moved to the Marquam area two years ago. His two children, Hudson and Jade, will be attending school in the Silver Falls School District. The easy commute from the new home to the new job made the Silverton position extremely attractive to Lever.
Lever was the head coach at Gervais High right out of Linfield College and also was an assistant at Southeast Oklahoma, the University of Puget Sound and Santa Barbara City College before taking the Tualatin position.
Lever and the other finalist, who was not named, participated in a unique test, conducting a workout with current Silverton players.
“I never have done that before,” Lever said. “It was a good way to evaluate the program and the kids.”
The 30-minute Saturday morning session started in a classroom where Lever drew up a couple of plays on a wipeboard and then the 25 or so athletes took to the field and ran them under Lever’s supervision.
Lever said stylistically he plans to run things at Silverton in a similar fashion to a small college program, with a strong emphasis on technique and the use of technology.
“We’re about the kids and creating great young people who are going to go on to be great husbands and fathers and contributors to society,” Lever said.
“That’s our No. 1 goal. If you do things the right way, good things will happen.”
