A Heritage cheerleader runs the flag up feild following a Heritage touchdown in the first quarter against Evergreen at McKenzie Stadium on Friday night, Aug. 31, 2018. (Nathan Howard/The Columbian)
In Leta Meyer’s words, Heritage High School found “our kind of coach” to lead its football program.
That’s how the school’s longtime athletic director described the Timberwolves’ new head football coach Dennis Moody, as announced by Meyer on Tuesday afternoon. Moody joined Heritage last fall as an assistant and coached the defensive line under then-head coach Matt Gracey.
“He’s a really good one; he gets it,” Meyer said of Moody. “He wants to be here, he loves it here and loves the kids. And for me … I feel good about the hire.”
While Moody is Heritage’s new football coach, he isn’t new to head-coaching duties. He’s coached high school football for 11 years, including a decade at two California high schools as an assistant and head coach. He was head coach of Robert F. Kennedy High in Delano, Calif., taking a program that won four games over a six-year stretch to back-to-back section titles in 2014 and ’15 — his first two years at the helm.
“It was a great place to coach, a great school to be a part of,” Moody said of Delano. “Heritage reminds of that school when it comes to the blue-collar kids who went there, just grinders by nature. … Just salt-of-the-earth kids who will do anything you want. And that’s the type of kids we have here at Heritage.”
In 2015, his RFK team qualified for the California state championships.
Moody, also an assistant track and field coach and teacher at Heritage, already has made a big impact in a short time at Heritage, Meyer said. She called him a “kid magnet.”
“The kids are drawn to him because of his enthusiasm because he’s so inspirational and encouraging to them,” she said.
Moody replaces Gracey, who departed after four seasons. Heritage went 2-7 in 2018.
Moody is excited with the way the program is headed, and the commitment he’s seen in the players.
“These kids are killing it,” he said. “They’re working hard, and I’m excited. And not just that, but we’re building a family environment and changing the attitude, the excitement and the approach about how we do that. These guys have come such a long way already, so that’s exciting. Don’t get me wrong. We have a long way to go. But I like the track that we’re on.”
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