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After a 0-10 season in 2009, and with the program mired in negativity, Emerald Ridge (Wash.) High School opened a search for a new head coach. Amazingly, five teachers at a neighboring junior high school decided to apply--using the same application. Brian Anderson, Torey Donovan, Darren Erath, Troy Halfaday, and Adam Schakel told Emerald Ridge Athletic Director Del Dittus that they wanted to apply as co-head coaches and employ a team-oriented teaching philosophy they felt could translate to success on the field.

The fivesome, all between the ages of 30 and 39, had been assistant coaches at nearby Rogers (Wash.) High School and taught together at Ballou (Wash.) Junior High School, where teachers are paired and co-teach classes. "We started talking about the job as soon as it opened up," says Halfaday, who serves as the program coordinator and handles most of the media and public relations. "It seemed like a great opportunity to try do something different.

"We've taught together the last 10 years using a collaborative style and we were familiar with each other and the concept of team teaching," he adds. "It's hard to describe unless you observe it, but the results in our school have been phenomenal and we felt confident that the philosophy could help turn around the team at Emerald Ridge."

The request for a five-headed head coaching staff caught Dittus off-guard. "My first question was, 'Why do you want to do it this way?'" he says. "They said, 'By ourselves we are pretty much weaklings, but if you get us all on the same field with the same purpose in mind and let us do the things we do best individually, we will be a strong staff. We are stronger as a unit than we are as individuals.'"

Though none of the applicants had ever had a head job, they had a combined 48 years of assistant coaching experience, so Dittus decided to give their team approach a shot. Once hired, the coaches had their work cut out for them, inheriting a situation so bleak the players were embarrassed to wear their jerseys to school.

"These kids had to deal with unbelievably negative vibes--quite often from adults," says Halfaday. "For example, the summer before the season started, the team was together walking the midway at the county fair and an adult said, 'Why don't you guys try to win one this year.' That sort of reaction was constant. It's hard to imagine the burden those kids were dealing with."

The newly hired coaches knew that it would take all of their collective strength to change the losing culture at Emerald Ridge. "We felt going in that leading with five instead of one would demonstrate to the kids, parents, and entire school that we were all going to turn things around together," says Halfaday. "We wanted to demonstrate and model the importance of teamwork."

Though the coaches have a shared leadership philosophy when it comes to handling issues, each coach does have a clearly defined role. Erath and Schakel are the team's co-offensive coordinators--Schakel manages the game from the sidelines and Erath provides input from the coaches' box. Anderson is the team's defensive coordinator and Donovan works with the offensive and defensive lines and is the strength and conditioning coach. In addition to his role as program coordinator, Halfaday also directs the special teams and works with the linebackers.

The keys to making the five-coach system work are trust and accountability. "With this group of coaches, we're constantly asking, 'where's the need?'" Halfaday says. "Then when your turn comes up, you take the lead."

Halfaday says players naturally gravitate toward their position coaches for leadership and that he is the primary disciplinarian. "I typically have a lot of the tough talks," he says. "Then another coach steps in and builds them back up."

Even though there is no leadership hierarchy, Halfaday says there haven't been any power struggles. "Sure we had conflicts, but we always settled them very quickly," he says. "We might bicker back and forth from time to time, but then we have a pow-wow and work things out. It's a very healthy dynamic."

Despite the new model, the season started out tumultuously and the team was on the short end of a number of blowout losses. To combat this, the coaching staff told the players not to focus on the scoreboard and to play for one another. Soon, playing for one another made a difference on the scoreboard.

In October, in a home contest against cross-town rival Puyallup High School, Emerald Ridge snapped its 19-game losing streak with a 20-17 victory. Then in the season finale, everything came together and the team notched its second win, beating Mount Rainier (Wash.) High School 50-0.

"It was a great way to end the season," Anderson told the Puyallup Herald. "We saw a lot of success this season and that is more than just on the scoreboard. We changed the culture of the football program ... This whole year has been really positive. It's been awesome.

"Our system is in and we're going to be even better next year," Anderson added. "Everyone knows what our expectations are. It's going to be a lot of fun."

R.J. Anderson is the Online Editor at Athletic Management.