New Everett CC coach seized on an unexpected opportunity

EVERETT — On Oct. 3, Mike Trautman showed up for another day of practice with the Everett Community College men’s basketball team.

But this was to be no ordinary day. Trautman walked into the gym as an assistant coach, and then walked out a few hours later as the team’s new head coach following the unexpected retirement of Larry Walker, who had held the position for 31 years.

“I had no clue (Walker was leaving),” Trautman said, recalling that eventful afternoon. “Everybody was always asking me, ‘When’s he going to retire? Are you going to take over? What’s the plan?’ But we didn’t have a plan.

“When I showed up that day, Larry looked at me and said, ‘Traut, my boss (Jennifer Rhodes, Everett CC’s associate dean of student life) is going to come down here in about 20 minutes and she’s going to offer you the head-coaching job at Everett Community College. I’ve been thinking about it for a few years and I’ve decided I’m going to retire, effective immediately.’”

But if Walker’s announcement was sudden, so was Trautman’s decision to accept the job offer. “No hesitation,” he said. “I wanted to do this, for sure.”

The 40-year-old Trautman takes over after five seasons as a Trojans assistant. A 1994 graduate of Granite Falls High School, Trautman played at Everett CC for two seasons before going on to graduate from Central Washington University in 2001. Since then he has worked in education and in business, and he is currently an elementary physical education teacher in the Snohomish School District.

Trautman, who describes himself as “very competitive and also very prepared,” has straightforward goals for his program. “I want us to win,” he said. “I want us to contend for championships.”

Because he was very involved with recruiting in recent years, Trautman helped bring many of the current players to Everett CC, which is 4-2 so far this season. Among them, sophomore guard Kiante Ahmad-Woods, a 2013 Mariner High School graduate, and sophomore guard Brevin Brown, a 2015 Cascade grad.

The abruptness of Walker’s retirement “was very shocking,” Ahmad-Woods said. “I didn’t see it coming and I was very devastated. But I also know we’re in good hands. Traut is a good coach and he’s the guy for the job.”

“I’m going to miss Larry a lot,” Brown said. “But I like the way Traut’s handling things. He’s taken the initiative as the head coach, he seems to be happy and we’re all happy for him. I think he’s going to do a great job.”

In his years as an assistant coach, Trautman focused his recruiting on Snohomish County and some of the surrounding areas, an approach he expects to continue as head coach. But he also has looked elsewhere, including out of state, for elite recruits who can be, he said, “all-league players.”

But because great college athletes are not always great students and great citizens, Trautman is firm about what he calls his “no-knuckleheads policy.” He is thorough in his background checks, precise in his evaluations.

His first contact with a prospective player might be via that young man’s Twitter page, and if the impression is dubious he might pull back. He also talks to a player’s previous coach or coaches, and even opposing coaches, and only when the responses are favorable does he reach out to the recruit.

Often he approaches players who are initially cool about Everett CC, given their dreams of playing at the NCAA Division I level. But he remains unoffended and undeterred, and he urges them to let Everett CC be, as he puts it, “a fall-back option.”

“I tell them, ‘You may think you’re D-I, your dad may think you’re D-I, your high school coach may think you’re D-I, but the D-I coaches don’t think so yet. So you have to go prove it to them, and I can help you prove it. … As soon as you sign with us, I’m going to do everything I can to help you get to the next level.’”

His recruiting efforts are also enhanced by the school’s beautiful 6-year-old gymnasium. The facility, he said, is “the best one in NWAC (Northwest Athletic Conference).”

Put it all together and Trautman foresees a men’s basketball program with “unlimited potential. I’m as hungry as anybody, I’m as competitive as anybody, we have a nice facility, and I’m working my butt off. So I think we can compete for championships, I really do, and I think this year we have a really good shot.”

The players, he said, “are hungry, they get along well, and they’re the kinds of kids I’m going to keep recruiting. So I think this team can contend for championships as long as I’m here.”