Dan Whitsett, a 1989 graduate of Hermiston High School, has led the Tri-Cities Fever indoor football team to a 6-3 record since taking over during the third week of the season.

By Ben Reynolds

Herald sports editor

KENNEWICK, Wash. Dan Whitsett paces feverishly down the field with a headset clinging to his ears, analyzing the defense.

He pulls a player toward him, and relays the play.

Less than 20 seconds later, Doug Coleman connects with Mike Rigell for a 24-yard touchdown play late in the first half as the Tri-Cities Fever takes a 26-21 halftime lead on their way to a 66-42 win over Dayton on May 27.

That play will likely go along side hundreds of other plays that Whitsett has scribed in his journal over the years that has become the backbone of his coaching style.

Whitsett, a 1989 graduate of Hermiston High School, has kept a running account of intricacies of 8-man football and all the plays that have worked and haven’t worked over the years.

Through his accounts and notes he has adopted a philosophy of his own that has produced success and and landed him in a dream job that he never though possible.

Whitsett, who returned to the Tri-Cities in 2000, took over the head coaching duties of the Fever a National Indoor Football League professional team three weeks into its inaugural season.

“I had thought about coaching (an indoor football team,” he said. “But living in the Tri-Cities, I never thought I would have that opportunity.

The opportunity presented itself for Whitsett who was a volunteer coach when coach Craig Beverlin was fired two games into the season after having differences with the owners.

Whitsett, who was head baseball coach of the Tri-City Prep High School baseball team, was then voted as interim head coach by the players and owners to take over, according to co-owner Teri Carr.

“I didn’t want to let the team down so I said I would give it a shot,” Whitsett said.

Whitsett has since turned around the shaky start to the franchise and posted a 6-3 record since taking over as coach and offensive coordinator. The Fever, coming off a 60-14 road win over New Jersey Friday night are now 7-4 on the season and in third place in the West Division standings.

With three games left in the regular season, the Fever are headed to the playoffs as they sit fifth in the Pacific Conference with the top-8 teams qualifying for the playoffs.

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Whitsett’s decision to take on the head coaching job of the Fever did not come without yielding some of his time and other duties.

When Whitsett walked on as a volunteer coach of the Fever, he figured he would put in a few hours a week with the team while coaching at Tri-City Prep.

“I was the fourth coach and didn’t figure to be going on road trips,” said Whitsett who will take the Fever to Billings, Mont., on Friday for a final road game.

But with a grueling travel schedule that sends the Fever across the country, coaching baseball, working at the Port of Pasco and raising five children was going to be a strain. So he relieved himself of his baseball duties to focus his attention on the brand of football he has worked for the past five years to gain attention for.

Whitsett, who is also the head football coach at Tri-City Prep, is the president and founder of the Pac-NW8 High School Football Association. Started in 2000 when he was coaching at Liberty Christian High School, Whitsett set up the organization to promote and enhance 8-man high school football programs throughout the Northwest.

Whitsett, who played football at Hermiston High School, said some of his interest for the 8-man game was sparked during his Bulldog playing days when he and a few of his friends went and watched Echo play its games on Thursday nights.

Watching those games, he learned the talent that exists at some of the smaller schools, and said he was disappointed at the lack of attention schools like Echo were getting.

“I would pick up the newspaper and see a big article about Hermiston and then barely a mention of them,” Whitsett said. “They were too good of players not to be sharing the same space in the paper.”

Whitsett has set up coaching clinics and the Pac-NW8 Elite Prospect Camp for college football prospects from the region to showcase their talent for coaches much like the Les Schwab Bowl and the Shrine Game.

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Whitsett was one of the lucky few who caught the eye of a college recruiter and was given an opportunity to compete after high school.

Whitsett, a three-sport athlete for the Bulldogs, attended Shoreline Community College in Seattle before being drafted by the San Diego Padres.

But an arm injury shortened his playing career and he got a scouting job in Seattle with the Network Scouting Service.

Whitsett is responsible for sending over 80 baseball players to college and the professional ranks in the past 10 years.

But his love has been coaching and that is what drew him back to the rural areas filled with tumbleweeds.

In 2000, he came on as coach at Liberty Christian where he is responsible for getting the football program started and was there for two seasons.

He moved over to Tri-City Prep in 2003 and led the school to its first winning season in school history, and plans to return for a third season this fall.

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Whether it be playing, scouting or coaching, Whitsett has be a part of more games than most.

And as he prepares to take the Fever to their first-ever postseason berth he will continue to add to his journal as he learns more as the season winds down.

That book has gotten pretty good use in his lifetime and expects to see a lot more in the coming years.

But in that book, there will always be a blank page that Whitsett can never fill.

And that void is the only regret he says he has when it comes to sports.

A sentiment the shares and holds true for most who played football at Hermiston.

The right formula to beat his archrival.

“We never beat Pendleton,” Whitsett said. “That’s haunted me to this day.”