New football coach predicting good year

There will be a new wave of enthusiasm when the Raiders of Lake Roosevelt’s football team take to Green Field this fall.

There will be the old and the new, according to head football coach Bubba Egbert.

He will be part of the new, as he takes over from former coach Loren Endsley, who resigned during the summer to take an assistant football coaching position at Eastern Oregon University.

Fall practices begin next Wednesday, Aug. 16, with what could be a huge turnout. Over 40 have been participating in weight training and fitness programs during the summer.

And it will be a time when Egbert trades being a full-time rancher to a full-time football coach.

This week, Egbert was trying to tie up a few loose ends as football coach, and the next day he was back in the saddle doing his rancher duties.

Bubba was active with the team last year, helping as an assistant to Endsley. It was a highly successful year; the Raiders ended with a 7-3 record.

Egbert was quick to pay Endsley compliments by recapping the many successes he had while only being head football coach one year. “He was the one that got the team going in the right direction,” Egbert stated.

Spring practice had 47 gridders out, Egbert said Monday, and there has been a new wave of enthusiasm from both coaches and players. With a large number of returnees, the kids are used to playing and practicing together.

“We have good coverage in most positions,” Egbert noted.

Some 26 LR players attended the Eastern Washington University football camp this summer.

“We have had good numbers in fitness and weight training this summer, and I expect we will be ready to go,” Egbert said.

Add to that the addition of assistant coaches and volunteers, and you have the makings of a good year.

Egbert knows a bit about football, having played for Boise State University from 1993-1997, in what turned out to be the startup years when the Broncos started their surge to be a national football power. He started his four-year stint as linebacker and ended up tight end.

“It was a real turnaround time, and each year the team just got better,” Egbert stated.