Updated 11/20/2024 4:07PM

LAKE OSWEGO — A half-hour after Lake Oswego’s 35-0 thumping of Mountainside in the Oregon 6A quarterfinals last Friday night, Coach Steve Coury finally made it to his office adjacent to the Lakers’ locker room. He slumped into his chair and smiled.

“Not a bad game, eh?” he said to a sportswriter he has known for decades.

Some of it wasn’t pretty. The Lakers — the state’s No. 1-ranked team — sustained six major penalties in the first half and still went into intermission ahead 21-0.

Things got chippy in the second half, and it was the Mavericks getting flagged for a number of majors, including several personal fouls. Late in the third quarter, with Lake Oswego ahead 28-0, Coury gathered his players near the sidelines during a timeout.

“I just told them to stay poised and to not let (the Mavericks) draw them into doing something stupid,” Coury told me. “I was proud of the reaction of our kids. I liked our composure. They kept their cool throughout. Those kind of things make a difference down the road when it’s a closer game.”

Coury knows plenty about games “down the road.”

On Friday, Lake Oswego (10-0) faces No. 5 Central Catholic (11-0) in a 7 p.m. semifinals showdown at Hillsboro Stadium. It will be the 67-year-old Coury’s 12th visit to the state semis in his 33 years as the Lakers’ head coach. His teams have made it to the state finals seven times, winning championships in 2011 and ’18. During the Coury era, the Lakers have made 17 state quarterfinal appearances and have won 18 league or co-league titles. From 2004-12, they went on a 48-game league winning streak.

If there were a Mount Rushmore for Oregon prep football coaches, Coury’s mug would be carved on it. With 282 victories, he ranks eighth for career wins across all classifications. For coaches at big schools, he stands fourth behind only Ken Potter (360 in 38 years at Jesuit), Thurman Bell (332 in 45 years at Roseburg) and Craig Ruecker (307 in 42 years at Reynolds, Glencoe, Redmond and Tigard).

“Steve is one of the all-time greats,” says Marty Johnson, whose Sheldon teams won three state 6A championships, including one over Lake Oswego in 2002. “If I had to rank opposing coaches on quality of work, overall class and all those good things, he would be right up there. He encompasses everything you could want in a coach.”

For those who have played for Coury, or coached with or against him, it is the intangible qualities that they appreciate most.

“Any one of his adult players would tell you that playing for Coach Coury is an unforgettable experience, because of the lessons, the impact, the family aspect, the relationships and the significant role he plays in a very pivotal time when young men are growing up,” says Ryan Durrett, who played for and coached with Coury.

“Steve has changed a number of people’s lives, myself included, for the better,” Lake Oswego offensive coordinator Nick Halberg says. “Steve lives his life by the golden rule — treat others as you want to be treated — and he walks the walk. It is not just talk with him. He is an incredible human being.”

Says Jake Dukart, who played at Lake Oswego from 2015-17: “Players come and go, but the culture Coach Coury established there has never left.”

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Coury was born to coach. His father, Dick, was an NFL assistant for 22 years of a 33-year career coaching in college and the pros. He was head coach of the 1974 Portland Storm of the World Football League and of the 1985 Portland Breakers of the USFL. Steve grew up around football. Playing football, and later coaching it, was in his blood. And he picked up some very important traits from his well-respected father.

“I learned a lot from my dad,” he says. “To treat people with respect. Everybody has a worth. You meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down. It is a great philosophy to have. I try to live my life like that.

“It is the way I am outside of football. It is the thing I preach to these kids, the respect part, and to have love in your heart. I know it sounds cliche, but it is the honest-to-God truth. I use the words ‘I love you’ a ton — it’s not used enough in our lives — and I mean it. I love my kids and grandkids in a different way than I love my players, but I do have a true love in my heart for them.”

Coury came to Lake Oswego with his family when Dick was hired to coach the Storm before Steve’s junior year in high school. He was a star running back at Lakeridge High playing for Tom Smythe — whom he passed this season on the state’s career victories list — and later at Oregon State from 1976-79. Coury was an All-Pac-10 receiver and third-team AP All-American as a senior with the Beavers, when he ranked second in the nation with 66 catches. The 5-8, 170-pound Coury left OSU as the career record-holder for receptions (135) and receiving yards (1,837).

Out of college, Coury signed with the Ottawa Roughriders of the CFL and played three games — he had seven catches for 94 yards and a TD and six punt returns for 54 yards — before breaking a thumb and missing the rest of the season. Soon he was on to coaching. From 1983-85, he coached wide receivers in the USFL under his father in Boston, New Orleans and Portland. After that, he coached receivers for three years at the University of Pittsburgh. Then he resigned. The lifestyle of college coaching wasn’t for him.

“Two of my three kids were born in Pittsburgh,” Coury says. “I am out recruiting and calling my wife, and she is telling me what the kids are doing. And I am thinking, ‘What am I missing?’ I decided right then I was going to resign. I wanted to come back to Oregon, raise my kids and be a part of their lives.”

Through the years, Coury has had other opportunities to coach at both the pro and college level. He has always passed them by.

“I had a great career path going while at Pitt, but I am glad I got out,” he says. “The decision I made was the right one for so many reasons.”

When he left for Pitt, college teammate Karl Halberg had promised Coury a job with his father’s trucking industry should he want to return to Oregon.

“I called Karl and said, ‘Remember that promise?’ ” Coury says. “He put me to work as a salesman.”

Coury worked there for two years, then moved into a job with Oregon Chief Meats. And then came the opportunity that changed his life. He committed to coaching Lake Oswego’s football team for one year in 1992. The Lakers’ program was down, with one winning season in the previous decade. Coury turned them around immediately. The Lakers went 5-4 that first season and beat Lakeridge for the first time in 16 years.

In the years since, there have been precious few losing and non-playoff seasons. Lake Oswego football has been a model of consistency. And Coury has accomplished it without being a teacher at the high school. Since 1999, he has worked as vice president and sales rep for the West Coast distributor of FieldTurf artificial surfaces, with a territory covering Oregon and Southwest Washington.

“Steve has done phenomenal things as an out-of-the-building coach, not having a presence there teaching classes and being around kids during the day,” says Jerry Hackenbruck, Lake Oswego’s defensive coordinator through Coury’s first three years as head coach. “That is not easy. I am amazed he has done it 33 years. It is unbelievable. Not many coaches are at one school that long, even if they are a teacher there. It is an amazing story.”

Many high schools and recreational fields in the state, along with football stadiums at Oregon State, Oregon, Linfield and also Washington State, have FieldTurf.

“At one time, we had nine of the 12 Pac-12 schools,” Coury says. “The job has been a godsend. It fits with my coaching schedule. I am dealing with coaches, ADs and sports-oriented people, which is right up my alley.”

And it has paid the bills for Steve, his wife of 44 years, Nancy, and their three children. When he started, the Lake Oswego School District paid him a couple of thousand dollars a year. Now, says Nancy, the salary is up to nearly $10,000 annually.

“That works out to about three cents on the hour,” she says with a laugh.

Some Oregon high schools pay football coaches under the table. A few years ago, another school made a run at Coury, its booster club willing to pungle up some nice coin. Coury turned it down.

“We definitely don’t do this for the money,” Coury says. “I have never been paid other than what the district gives me, but I am happy here. Lake Oswego is such a great community. The people are so supportive, and we have been able to keep the coaching staff together. It has worked so well.”

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Continuity of staff has been integral to the Lakers’ success. Two former teammates at Oregon State — Karl Halberg and Brian Newcomer — have both been on the staff since the beginning. Frank Everhart has been aboard for 31 years, Chris Hubley for 25. Five other coaches — including Nick Halberg and defensive coordinator Steve Smith — played at Lake Oswego.

“Those guys get the culture, what I am like, what I like as a coach, how we treat people,” Coury says.

Coury was recently named Three Rivers League Coach of the Year, an honor he has had many times. He always deflects any praise.

“Nah, the award is ‘Coaching Staff of the Year,’ ” he says. “Our guys are unbelievable. We have so much fun together.”

“Those coaches who have stuck with Steve all those years are great people, too,” says Hackenbruck, now retired and living in Tualatin after 33 years in high school coaching, including head coach stints at Redmond, Mountain View and Summit in Central Oregon. “The staff treats the kids right. They are knowledgeable about football and good at taking what talent they have and figuring out ways to win with them. That is a special gift.

“I loved coaching with Steve. He is one of my favorite people, one of the most congenial and loving people I know. That goes right to the kids. Coaching with those guys was the most fun I had in my career, and I coached with some great people at other places.”

For many years, Karl Halberg and Everhart served as coordinators. In recent years, Nick Halberg — 34 years old and Karl’s son — and Smith, 36, have taken over those roles.

“The world is different,” Coury says. “I am old, but I am smart enough to get younger guys around me, to change the staff at times and their assignments.”

“(Coury) has put together an incredible staff of people who play different roles within the group,” Nick Halberg says. “I used to think it was just about getting the smartest football people you can together and that will be the staff. At the high school level, you need a lot of roles to be filled. He has done a good job of finding people to serve those roles.”

The young coaches have helped him keep up with the times.

“Coach Coury has adapted over the years,” says Casey Waletich, a running back and safety on Coury’s first Lake Oswego teams and now associate superintendent of the Beaverton School District. “His first teams ran the veer option. (They now use a spread offense). Through the years, he has made the necessary tweaks.”

Coury’s basic coaching philosophies, though, were there from the start.

“My staff and I are doing this for the kids,” he says. “That has never changed since I have been here. We have no egos. We work hard. We are in it for the experience of the kids. If we have 65 kids on the roster, the 65th kid needs to feel like the first kid. We go out of our way to make that happen.”

During August two-a-days before a season, Coury directs his assistants to be active during pre-practice stretching. He wants them to get to know players, even if they aren’t in the coach’s position group.

“We never have the kids’ names taped to their helmets,” Coury says. “My instruction to the coaches is, ‘Learn everybody’s names. I want you calling them by their first names instead of Smith or No. 18.’ We need to make them feel like they should feel — a part of it.

“We film all of our practices. That allows us to talk to kids who are scout-team guys about what they have done in practice. That motivates them to work harder, and they feel a part of it.”

But Coury acknowledges that changes in society have changed things in coaching.

“It is harder to coach than it has ever been,” he says. “Nowadays, it is so much about ‘me.’ ”

Some of the players have personal trainers. Some are members of college prospect groups. Some subscribe to Hudl, which provides video services to use for college recruiting. Some want to put their game video up on Instagram. Parental involvement has become interference more than ever. If their son isn’t playing enough, or not playing the position they want him to play, there can be rumbles, even the threat of transferring to another school.

“There have been a lot of changes in sports in general,” Dukart says. “Kids are moving around now, playing 7-on-7 football in the summer. There are a lot of outside distractions where kids can get caught up in the limelight or trying to be Hollywood. Coach Coury has done such a good job of letting kids do those different experiences in terms of recruiting and seeking guidance, but it hasn’t skipped a beat within that football program in the fall.”

“Those things have changed the way some of the parents look at it, instead of just enjoying the time the kid has as a high school player,” Coury says. “The percentage that go on to play college football is small. I say, just enjoy this. Don’t worry about recruiting. There is so much emphasis on that. You have to curtail it as much as you can. We have been fortunate with that. For the most part, our parents have been cooperative and understanding. But it is tougher that way than ever before.”

Coury pauses, then smiles.

“I still love it, man,” he says. “I think I still relate to the kids. I think they still like me and what we are doing. They listen. I can do things as a coach that parents can’t.”

“He very much views what he does in coaching as taking on a parental role in his players’ lives,” Smith says. “He tells parents that he is going to treat their kids the same way he would treat his own.”

There were two players who had a different kind of relationship with the coach — Jordan and Stevie Coury, his sons. Both were receivers who eventually spent time on their pop’s coaching staff. (The third Coury child, Abby Bowles, was a cheerleader at Lake Oswego.)

“Coaching the boys was hard,” Steve says. “You are harder on your kids than anyone else. You look at things differently. It was tough on them. It was easier on Stevie — Jordan had been the guinea pig who went through it first. For me, though, it was such a joy. It was a great way to spend time with them and be close to them and spend quality time having something at stake together.”

For 10 years, they also had their grandfather around. Dick Coury was living in San Diego with wife Bonnie, but he served as an advisor to Steve and his staff.

“Dad would come in August and stay the first five weeks,” Steve says. “He would fly home, and then come back when we started the playoffs. That was such a great thing for me but also for him.

“He was so much fun to be around. Guys on the staff enjoyed it. He would write us notes and sat in on our meetings. Any time he spoke, it was like E.F. Hutton. He didn’t ever want to be in the way, but you wanted to hear what he had to say. Every Saturday morning after a game he would hand me a sheet with notes about things he observed — not telling me what to do, but just observations. They were great learning things for me. The knowledge he had was amazing.”

“I met Dick on a number of occasions and got to know Steve’s kids while coaching against them,” says Johnson, the head coach at Sheldon from 1997-2010 who now serves as an assistant for the Irish. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with regard to that group of men.”

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The numbers for most high school football programs in the state are down in recent years. Concerns about concussions played a role in that. During the late 2010s and early 2020s, Lake Oswego’s numbers dipped, too. A program that once featured more than 100 players was down to 58 in 2020, the Covid year.

“At one point, we had 320 kids in our youth program, but it got down to 78 that year,” Coury says. “It all starts there. The program was dying. There was talk about us dropping to the 5A level.”

But a Lake Oswego parent, Grant Hammersley, got involved to help instill interest in the youth program.

“Parents got behind it, and it made a difference,” Coury says. “They did a great job of pulling it back together.”

The safety issue was mitigated by better protective equipment, especially helmets. This season, the Lakers have 88 players in the high school program.

“For a little while, they weren’t living up to the LO standards,” Johnson says. “But Steve hung in there and kept doing it the right way. To be right back up on top again is super impressive to me.”

This is one of Coury’s best teams, with some strong leadership from the senior class but also some skilled underclassmen. Junior running back Lamarcus Bell, who has rushed 145 times for 1,309 yards (a 9.0 average) and 22 touchdowns, is the poster boy.

“This team compares to some of the really good teams we have had,” Coury says. “The thing I really like about them is they like each other. The culture is great. I credit our seniors for that. There is a great camaraderie. They have that special stuff — the little things that matter. And on top of that, there is talent. We have good players.”

Good enough, Coury hopes, to win his third straight championship.

“It is so hard to win it, but it would be great for the kids,” he says. “It is the ultimate goal. You put goals out there in your life. We are chasing that one. We have a chance. We are one of four teams left.”

Success, though, means other things to Steve Coury.

“The winning has never been the top priority,” Smith says. “It honestly is about more than just wins and losses; it is about creating an experience for these kids coming through that is a lot of fun, about family, commitment and being a part of something bigger than themselves.

“If we are doing the job right, if we are teaching the lessons that we set out to teach and are making it about the kids and holding them accountable, then the winning takes care of itself.”

Sometimes you learn more about a coach in defeat than in victory.

“Steve is super competitive, but he is always a gentleman, whether the game ended with a win or a loss,” Johnson says. “You could talk to him after he lost and he was first-class, which is a sign of the character of a person. It is easy to not be a great sport when things don’t go your way.”

Hackenbruck coached against Coury only once, in the 1999 Oregon 6A quarterfinals when he was head coach at Mountain View. Hackenbruck’s son, Tommy, ran the opening kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown and the Cougars went on to a rollicking 51-40 win.

“Both teams played really well but we got the breaks at the end,” says Hackenbruck, whose older son, Joe, played for Coury. “And it didn’t hurt our friendship at all. We have become even better friends through the years.”

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Coury preaches to his players the importance of sacrificing individual goals for those of the team. Liam Davis is a 6-2, 205-pound senior who was starting quarterback as a sophomore and junior. But after last season, Hudson Kurland transferred in from Sunset High, his family moving into the Lake Oswego district. Kurland has been the Lakers’ starting QB this season.

“I met with Liam before the season,” Coury says. “I told him, ‘(Kurland) is really good. You’re a good athlete. We need to move you to other positions.’ ”

Davis, one of the team captains, was first-team All-Three Rivers League at safety and second-team all-league at receiver this season.

“Liam accepted the role,” Coury says. “He is one of the best leaders we have. It didn’t work exactly how he wanted. He was hoping to stay at quarterback and play it at the next level. But he decided, ‘I am going to be a leader; we are going to get this thing right.’ His teammates saw that Liam wasn’t bitching about things. Those are the kind of things that make a team like ours what it is.”

Davis admits the change of positions wasn’t easy to take.

“I gave a lot of thought to it,” he says. “I thought about (transferring to another school). But Coach Coury and his staff, those guys are like family. It would be tough to walk away from it.

“It was a leap-of-faith thing. I was confident in myself to make the switch and was lucky enough to have the support of my teammates and coaches to help me along this path that I am on. So far, so good.”

The Lakers have gotten their share of transfers through the years, but have lost some, too.

“A lot of schools are recruiting kids to come into their program, but I don’t think (the Laker coaches) do that,” Hackenbruck says. “They have had players land in their laps a few times because of Steve’s reputation and the program, but not because they are out hustling for talent.”

Coury, Davis says, “is one of the most important mentors I have ever had. He has matured me a lot. I used to be a super emotional guy. One thing went wrong, and I was all over the place. Now, I am more even-keel when things go sideways. A lot of the credit for that goes to him.”

Davis gives kudos to the assistants, too.

“It is tough to single any one coach out,” he says. “Everyone does such a good job at his position. They are all great football minds, and on top of that, great people to have in your life.”

In the Lake Oswego program, Davis says, “You learn a lot about brotherhood, about family. To me, that is what’s most important — not just the football side of it, but the fact that we get to play the sport we love while at the same time forming life-long bonds and making memories we will never forget. I am grateful to have that opportunity at Lake Oswego.”

Davis seconds Coury’s assertion about the unusual camaraderie the players have formed.

“I would trust just about every dude on this team with my life,” Davis says. “You would think a high school team would have a cancer or two, but there is nobody like that on this team. We are so tight-knit, it is smooth sailing. We all support each other. We all love each other. We would do anything for each other.”

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Nick Halberg and Smith both learned the Laker way playing for Coury. Nick’s father, Karl, is Steve’s best friend. Steve and Nancy Coury are Nick’s godparents. Nick was a receiver for the Lakers who went on to serve as an undergrad and grad assistant for Mike Riley at Oregon State and as an analyst at Nebraska.

“Our families grew up together around Laker football,” says Nick, in his sixth year on the LO staff, the last four as O-coordinator. “Most of my fondest memories as a kid are around that. Steve and the older coaches on staff are father figures for me.

“Steve and I are very comfortable with each other to where we can speak honestly and give our true thoughts on things. It is never taken in the wrong way. We are both very competitive and want to win. It is part of what makes us good. We don’t just agree all the time. We make sure we are doing everything the best way we can.”

Coury doesn’t even know the Lakers’ offensive signals. He allows Nick to call the plays without interference. Same with Smith on the defensive side.

“Coach Coury doesn’t micromanage,” Waletich says. “He will have input, but he trusts his coaches to do their jobs.”

“One of things that makes Coach so great, he is incredibly competitive, but at the same time he doesn’t care where the idea, the solution or the scheme comes from,” Durrett says. “He cares about the process and the outcome. That has enabled many coaches to grow, develop and contribute to the program over the years. He has a pretty good coaching tree out there with former players and assistant coaches — not just at Lake Oswego but at other schools.”

Durrett is among the closest of former players to Coury. Karl Holberg is his uncle. Durrett grew up with Coury’s children. At age 10, he and Tommy Hackenbruck were ballboys on Coury’s first LO team. Durrett was a receiver for the Lakers, later taught at the high school for 10 years and coached with Coury for 14.

Durrett now serves as spotter for the public address announcer at Laker home games.

“I always looked at him like a father figure,” Durrett says, now marketing manager for the Gunter Group, a Portland-based consulting firm. “You go through highs and lows with him as a player. To be able to experience those highs and lows as a coach, you grow even closer. It was an honor to coach there and give back to a program that gave me so much.”

Nick Halberg has taken in much from Coury as a coach.

“He is a master motivator,” says Halberg, who works in Human Resources for Bench Craft, a company that    does advertising sales for golf courses. “He knows what buttons to push with the kids and when as far as getting them prepared to play.    He is very smart and shrewd. He can get the kids rallied together and ready to play our best when the lights are the brightest.”

Smith was a quarterback at LO who coached at his alma mater from 2011-19, then moved to Clackamas as offensive coordinator in 2020 and ’21. He returned to Lake Oswego in ’22 to work the other side of the ball and is in his second season as D-coordinator.

“(Coury) was a mentor to me growing up, and as a young coach, I have tried to take on all the lessons I can from him,” Smith says. “I am trying to model a lot of the ways I coach by the way he does it. He sets the bar high. He approaches football as a means to teach life lessons to young men, and to help guide them on the right path, to teach them right from wrong and lessons that will serve them after they are done playing.

“At the same time, there is a serious competitiveness and a ton of football knowledge and drive to win. It has been a privilege, both as a player and a coach, to be a part of the whole mission.”

The coordinators have enjoyed getting to know Coury off the field as well.

“He is the best,” Halberg says. “If you were looking for one guy to grab a beer with, he is the one. He can talk to anybody. He is nice and polite but he has great stories.”

Smith agrees, but considers himself a subordinate.

“He is a fun guy to hang out and have a beer with,” Smith says, “but it is still a mentor/mentee type of relationship.”

Others who played for Coury have similar feelings.

“It is phenomenal the impact he has on kids,” Waletich says. “It doesn’t matter what background you have, how good or average a player you are, he generally cares about you.”

Kasey Closs, a receiver at Lake Oswego from 2007-09, moved on to Portland State and was third-team All-Big Sky Conference as a senior.

“Playing for Coach Coury is a first-class experience,” says Closs, now offensive coordinator at Westview High. “The dude cares about his kids. It us a family atmosphere there. He taught me valuable life lessons that I have applied not only in high school but to college and my business career.

“The tradition of the Lake Oswego program is firm, and that is because of Coach Coury, how great he is to play for. There are so many memories I go back to in high school that are among the favorites in my playing career.”

Dukart was a quarterback at Lake Oswego, his younger brother Thomas a receiver. Both went on to play baseball at Oregon State.

“The preparation the boys got under Steve in high school springboarded them to a successful career at the D-1 level in college,” says their father, Derek Dukart.

“In terms of an experience with a coach throughout my athletic career, Coach Coury is as good as it gets,” says Jake Dukart, a starter for all or parts of his four seasons playing baseball at OSU from 2019-22. “He is the rock that has been there the entire time. He cares about all the right things. The consistency he has formed with that program over a long period, the values he carries … Coach Coury has done it his entire career with slip-ups. It is pretty powerful, and the success he has had reflects it.”

Dukart took part in the Lake Oswego youth program and dreamed about one day playing for the Lakers.

“I grew up watching from the sidelines in my LO jersey,” says Dukart, now a lumber trader in Bend. “It was the coolest thing ever.”

As a high school player, Dukart enjoyed one special Laker tradition.

“Before games, Coach Coury would give us an epic speech,” he says. “But also, the alumni would come back, be in the locker room and give us some words of wisdom. It was great to have those guys come back and watch us play. Now as an alum, it is a different kind of fun for me.”

Dukart attended the Mountainside game.

“The first person I texted when I was heading to the game was Coach Coury,” he says. “He sent me three long paragraphs back asking how I am doing, how my family is doing, saying how much he loves me. It’s been cool to keep a relationship with him. I haven’t had another coach care so much about his players beyond the time I played for him.”

“My kids have come and gone from Lake Oswego,” Derek Dukart says, “but Steve has remained a part of their lives. He has meant a lot to our family.”

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Let me throw my two cents in. I have been writing sports professionally for half a century. Steve Coury is on the short list of the many fine people I have met through the years. I have great respect for him as a coach and as an individual. I am proud to call him a friend and hope he continues coaching for many years.

The good news is, Coury has no plans to retire soon.

“I think I still have a good influence on the kids,” he says. “The day when that is gone, when I have lost that relationship, that is when I will step away.”

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