New Coupeville High School football coach Jon Atkins wants to touch Central Whidbey the way his hometown coaches affected Sutter, Calif.

Atkins is the Wolves’ fourth head coach since Ron Bagby, who coached 26 years, stepped down after the 2009 season.

Atkins graduated from high school in Sutter, a school of about 450 students.

“My former coach Scott Turner and defensive coordinator Ryan Reynolds took that team and built a program that is respected throughout Northern California, but, more importantly, they had a huge impact on the community and every player on their team,” Atkins said. “I saw the CHS job as a way for me to make the same kind of impact on Central Whidbey as they did in my small home town.”

While Atkins spent most of his youth in California, he did attend Oak Harbor High School for his junior year, and he returned to OHHS in 2009 as an assistant basketball coach. He became part of the Wildcat football coaching staff in 2011 and served as the defensive coordinator last fall.

Atkins participated in a variety of sports growing up, including football, basketball and track in high school. He played football for two years at Yuba Community College and then joined the Army. After completing his service, he attended Western Washington University and majored in kinesiology, then spent at year at Washington State University as an intern strength and conditioning coach for the football and basketball teams.

Atkins said he learned a “tremendous” amount from his high school coaches and Oak Harbor head coach Jay Turner and assistants Mike Fisher and Peter Esvelt. He wants to take that knowledge and “build a program that the community can be proud of.”

From the first day he took over the Coupeville program, Atkins said, he emphasized the five pillars of success: competition, leadership, family, commitment and toughness.

“The goal of any coach is to have a successful program, but success for me is developing great young men in the community,” Atkins said.

He wants to develop a sense of pride that will prompt his players to “come back and give their own time and effort down the road.”

In addition, Atkins wants the players who go through his program to have “a certain set of tenets and morals that will help them for the rest of their lives.”

Atkins knows that the Wolves have struggled racking up wins in football but is ready to push the team up the Olympic League standings.

“Watching film and seeing the kids in practice, I think that the skill is there, we just need to adjust the culture of the football program, change expectations and change perceptions both internally and externally,” he said. “No matter the record, there has always been a tremendous amount of support from the community, and I (believe) the key to turning the program around is building the culture of the football team and the community together.”

Atkins, who teaches special education at Oak Harbor High School, will be a busy man this school year. He and wife Danielle welcomed a new child to the family in July, and he will continue as the Wildcats’ head girls basketball coach.

“I am crazy,” he noted. “When my family talked about the opportunity, I had to give up my track and weight room roles at OHHS and just focus on two head coaching jobs instead of four coaching positions.”

Atkins added he is “used to the grind” and said hiring “great people” as assistant coaches will help.

Brad Sherman, Ryan King and Jonathan Martin will serve on Atkins’ Coupeville football staff.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of rebuilding the CHS program and can’t wait to get after it Sept. 3.”

The Wolves host rival South Whidbey at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.