Interlake hires Jason Rimkus to coach football

Jason Rimkus received so many calls and text messages Thursday, his cell phone died.

But, no matter how many people called to congratulate him, the news that he is taking over as Interlake's head coach had yet to hit him.

"To be honest, I'm not sure if it's set in yet," said Rimkus, who spent last season coaching Bothell's defensive backs. "It's been a day like I've never had in my entire life. The support that I have is tremendous and it's the reason why I'm in this situation."

The 26-year-old takes over for Sheldon Cross, who left the program to become a graduate assistant at Washington State after taking the Saints to the 2A playoffs each of the past two seasons.

"His energy, his background as far as being around guys like Tom Bainter and being around Frosty and Scott Westering and that type of mentality," said Interlake athletic director Art Kuehn, describing what Rimkus will bring to the program. "He's passionate about what he does. His references were impeccable. I think we got the right guy. It was a tough decision. We had a couple of really good candidates."

Rimkus played at Bothell and was a team captain during Bainter's first season with the Cougars in 2001. Rimkus played at PLU and then did his student teaching at Bothell where he coached linebackers.

He spent time as an assistant at Western Washington and PLU before returning to work under Bainter.

"He's a young, enthusiastic football junkie who has great people skills and he will do a great job," Bainter said. "I think it's going to be a great spot for him to start his head coaching career."

Under Cross, the Saints ran a wide-open, fast-break attack on offense. Rimkus said he will tailor his attack to the players in the program.

"Really I can't say. We won't be as run-and-gun as they were last year, but I think all good coaches fit their talent to a scheme and they don't try to have their scheme dictate everything," Rimkus said. "We'll run what fits our personnel the best offensively. Defensively, we will give it tremendous effort, I can tell you that."

This is Rimkus' first head coaching job and he is looking forward to meeting his players and preparing for the 2010 season.

"Things will come up that you've never thought of before and I'm really looking forward to those things and learning those things," Rimkus said. "As far as the game of football goes, I'm pretty confident in that, but just all the little administrative things that you never really learn until you're a head coach."