Lindgren hangs up playbook for family time

After more than two decades of teaching Criders, Foxes, Hodges, Browns and nighthawks how to run, block and tackle, Tekoa/Oakesdale/Rosalia football coach Ken Lindgren is going to hang up his whistle.

Lindgren turned his resignation to officials at all three schools last week, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“I love football. I love the game. But I love my family more,” said Lindgren.

Friday night football games often kept Lindgren from attending the volleyball and basketball games of his daughters. He no longer wants to miss those games.

“I’ve listened to a lot of the guys that have coached football for a long time, and they all said the thing they regretted the most was missing their kids’ stuff,” he said.

Lindgren began coaching at Oakesdale in 1989, and has been coaching football since 1983. The football team has seen the addition of Rosalia into the mix to stay at the 11-man level and has seen leagues shuffle around as the WIAA adjusts for changing student body counts.

The Nighthawks this year were the lone Whitman County entry in the tough SE 2B division which was dominated by the Waitsburg/Prescott Tigers.