A Fort Vancouver Trapper will be coaching the Fort Vancouver Trappers.
Eric Ollikainen, a 1998 graduate from Fort, has been named the new football coach.
“These kids … deserve a program that is something special,” Ollikainen said. “I played for Gary Boggs. When you played football for Gary Boggs, you had an experience. I want that for our kids.”
Boggs is a legend at Fort, coaching the Trappers to five league titles with a 163-149-3 record in 34 years at Fort Vancouver.
Ollikainen’s record is 0-0. This is his first job as a head coach, but he knows Fort. He has been an assistant with the program for five seasons.
Plus, he said he learned from the best.
“He was a legendary motivator,” Ollikainen said of Boggs, who retired prior to the 2001 season. “He had a special gift for motivating his players. He was absolutely amazing. He got his kids to play hard.”
Now, that Ollikainen’s responsibility.
“They’re not going to play that hard if they don’t enjoy the sport,” he said. “We have to make it fun for them.”
John Griffin, the school’s athletic director, said Ollikainen is dedicated and is the man to turn around Fort’s fortunes on the football field.
“Success for us is using the game of football to teach young men to be young men, how to develop life skills they can use,” Griffin said. “Part of that is being successful on the field and off the field.”
The Trappers have gone 2-7 in each of the past three seasons.
“We haven’t been a factor in (Class 3A Greater St. Helens League) football the last few years, but we’ve been close,” Ollikainen said. “Once I get them, hopefully, to believe in themselves, we can be a force in the league. I really believe that.”
Ollikainen, who played college ball at Portland State and then Western Oregon, is taking over for Cal Szeuber, who was the head coach for four seasons. Ollikainen said his first order of business it putting together a staff.
“I want to get a highly motivated, energetic coaching staff together,” he said.
Fort Vancouver is the second football program in Clark County to officially hire a new coach. Jack Hathaway, a former assistant at Evergreen, has taken over at Heritage. Ridgefield is expected to officially announce the hiring of its vacancy this week.
