New football coach hired for Washington

WASHINGTON — Washington has made a choice for the head coach of the Demons football team.

“We have one hired, Washington athletic director Brent Van Weelden said. ”We interviewed six candidates for the position. We hired Nick Ehret late last week.“

The position was open after James Harris took the same job at Iowa City Liberty.

Ehret, currently the boys track coach at Highland, has been the head coach at Central Lee from 2017-19 and Cardinal in 2016.

Central Lee was 5-4 in his first season as the head coach after a 7-3 mark in 2016, but were 0-9 in 2018 and 2-7 in 2019. Central Lee was 0-8 this season under Chuck Banks.

Cardinal had a 4-5 record in its lone season under Ehret after being 0-9 in 2015.

Ehret and his wife had a baby, and she got a job at the University of Iowa, so they moved from Burlington to Washington in August after he resigned from the Hawks job. After the move, he took the job as boys track coach at Highland.

After nearly a year of living in Washington, Ehret saw what a great program the Demons have. He saw that firsthand attending summer camps run by Harris.

Ehret said he “was shocked that he would leave.”

“Washington is a great place to live,” Ehret said. "With the chance to be a part of an established program, I knew it was a job that I would want, and so I applied and was fortunate enough to get it.“

A large part of the established program’s tradition and culture are the assistant coaches at Washington. Harris repeatedly made that point, and Ehret said he is “very fortunate” all have been retained.

“I already have eight assistant coaches with a wealth of experience and a wealth of knowledge,” Ehret said. "They know their football, so I’m excited to work with them and learn from them.“

Offensive coordinator Don Miksch often has the Demons at the top of Class 3A running a spread-type offense, but Ehret is more of a traditional “run guy, but you break down the nuts and bolts of it, the packaging is a little different. The offense is his. It’s clearly working with him in charge.”

The athletes have matured through the program in it, so it’s easier for Ehret to learn Miksch’s system than have everyone learn a new system.

“It would be foolish of me to get rid of an offense that has had a lot of success,” he said.

Kelly Williams is going to move from defensive backs coach and be the coordinator. Washington runs a 4-2-5 defense like Ehret ran with the same basics.

“Coach Kelly and I seem to be a great fit with what our objectives will be, but he’s in charge of it,” Ehret said. “I can be the game manager.”

The responsibilities and specific roles will be a process, but Ehret wants to build on what is established, not make changes.

Ehret grew up in New Sharon and played football for his father, Hall of Fame coach Steve Ehret, who retired at North Mahaska after 40 years as the coach and made the playoffs 13 times with four title game appearances and one championship.

“The name doesn’t hurt,” he said.