Rainier football is humming along thanks to their coach, who’s also a choir director

Back in 2001, Timberline High School hired Terry Shaw to teach music and direct its choirs.

Shortly thereafter, Shaw walked out to the football practice field and asked then-coach Kevin Young if he could use a volunteer coach. Seven years on Timberline’s sideline followed, including the Jonathan Stewart glory years, then assistant stints at Northwest Christian of Lacey and Olympia.

Meanwhile, Timberline’s choirs grew from 37 students to more than 150. Quality followed quantity, and Blazers groups have won statewide competitions and traveled to San Francisco, Chicago and New York, where they have performed at Carnegie Hall.

Shaw got his first football head-coaching gig at Rainier in 2013. Since then, the Mountaineers have grown their level of success. Last year, they ended a 26-year drought between state playoff appearances.

This season, they are off to a third consecutive 5-0 start, and ranked fourth in Class 2B entering Friday night’s game at No. 5 Onalaska (5-0).

A reputation as a guy succeeding in vastly different enterprises follows Shaw. But, Shaw and everyone close to him see his two careers as twins, not opposites.

“You get a group of people together who have a common goal,” Shaw said. “We want to strive for excellence, we want to be our best selves every single day. Is that choir or football?”

Shaw says he applies coaching techniques modeled from John Wooden and Vince Lombardi to both his choirs and football teams. Watching him teach reinforces the similarities.

Choir students warm up not only their voices but their bodies, taking turns stepping out front to lead the exercises. They transcribe music like football players writing in playbooks. No one sits during rehearsals.

Shaw walks the perimeter of the group, checking the progress of individuals. When the session ends, he takes one choir member aside and urges them to show a deeper commitment.

“He’s building an atmosphere where everyone involved is proud to be part of something bigger than themselves,” said Timberline principal Paul Dean, a former coach and athletic director.

Ninho Denis, a member of Timberline’s symphonic choir who also plays receiver and defensive back on the Blazers’ varsity scout and JV teams, says every once in a while Shaw’s other job shines through during rehearsal.

“Sometimes he’ll get really intense, you can see the football coach coming out,” Denis said.

Shaw acknowledges the feeling.

“I would love to be able to give my choirs up-downs sometimes,” he joked. “That’s a bonus in the football world. If it starts turning into garbage time where people are not there mentally, we start doing up-downs.”

Interestingly, Shaw did not grow up heavily involved in music or sports.

Born in the Panama Canal Zone where his father was stationed in the Army, Shaw moved five times as a youngster. He didn’t take sports seriously until coming to Olympia right before high school.

Commuting to Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, he started both ways on the line as a senior despite weighing just 152 pounds. A dislocated elbow as a freshman had kept him off the field and turned him into a weight-lifting fanatic.

“Plus, I was just a little bit meaner than everyone else,” he said.

Recruited by Division II schools, Shaw opted for a non-athletic college career where, at Pacific Lutheran University, he discovered piano, singing and a desire to teach.

When he volunteered to help out the Blazers’ football program back in 2001, he learned how he felt about coaching.

“I loved it,” he said.

After serving as a defensive coach nearly every season of his tenure as an assistant, he was ready to try head coaching when the Rainier job opened.

“I’m kind of a control freak,” Shaw said. “I like being in charge.”

One of his first conversations with Rainier’s athletic director after he was hired turned him into an offensive coach.

“He said we didn’t have much speed or size, but we had one very fast freshman, a quarterback named McKoy Bichler,” Shaw said.

Enter the triple-option offense that continues to pay dividends today, with senior Zach Lofgren under center.

Entering Friday’s game, Lofgren is 11 yards short of the 1,000-yard mark in total offense, having completed 47 percent of his passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns, and rushing for 550 yards on 56 carries.

Junior Brody Klein, who backs Lofgren up at quarterback, but spends most of his time wracking havoc as a running back and receiver, has rushed for 509 yards and four touchdowns.

“What’s really special at Rainier right now is these kids want to be great,” Shaw said. “They show up every single day. Last week the sickness that’s been going around hit our team hard. We only started six of our regular starters on offensive and six on defense. Because the drive was there we were still able to win.”

The Mountaineers players return the compliments.

“He’s such a diverse man,” two-way senior lineman Travis Honaker said. “He’s a football coach, a choir director, an airplane pilot, a weight-training coach.”

Lofgren likes the way Shaw diversifies the playing experience at Rainier.

“Day to day, he always has a new mindset,” Lofgren said. “He doesn’t carry things over. He’s always excited to find new ways to help us win.”

Typically, the Mountaineers come to school on Saturday mornings to watch video of the previous night’s game and take a jog to loosen soreness.

“Coach Shaw told us if we played a great quarter against Life Christian, he’d give us a break,” Lofgren said. “After we won, he said, ‘Sleep in tomorrow, see you Monday.’ ”

Shaw’s responsibilities extend beyond the two high schools. He credits his wife, Jennifer, with shouldering an extra share of parenting duties, as he directed not only Timberline’s choir, but that of Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church and the Olympia Choral Society.

Their 20-year-old son Trevor, a former Olympia High School wrestler, is now an Army combat medic, while 15-year-old Owen is a freshman at Timberline, playing tennis and planning to go out for wrestling and track.

The community choir is on an extended break, but Shaw has written a musical, “Tents,” about homeless people, and is at work on another. He says his busy days are a matter of following a script.

“I do all of my planning during the winter and summer. With the church and school choirs, I know everything we’re doing up until Christmas,” he said. “Football is a a little less structured, with watching a lot of film outside of scheduled times. Wherever you’re at, be there.”