Rippee in pursuit of No. 100

Heading into his 22nd year at the helm of the Douglas football program, Mike Rippee is just two wins away from No. 100.

Not that you'd be able to pry that fact out of him.

"I've never been a numbers guy," Rippee said. "Each year is a new year. We just try to go out and compete as best as we can, whatever it takes.

"Numbers-wise, I've just been here a long time and these things tend to add up over the years."

Whether he wants to admit it or not, that 100th win would launch Rippee into exclusive company.

It would place him in a tie for seventh on the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's all-time wins list and he would become jut the fifth coach in the Northern region to achieve the number.

Of those five, only McQueen's Ken Dalton and Truckee's Bob Shaffer are still active.

Dalton (255) and former Wooster and Manogue head coach Joe Sellers (250) are the only other Northern 4A coaches to have topped 100.

Rippee started as an assistant at Douglas in 1978 after completing a successful career at the University of Nevada, Reno and, before that, Yerington High School.

He assumed the helm after Bill Coverley, the Tigers' coach of 15 years, stepped back heading into the 1985 season.

The Tigers struggled out of the gates, losing their first five games and running their losing streak to 11 from the previous season.

Rippee's son, Luke, was born just hours before the Tigers' final loss of that streak.

Mike Rippee accompanied his wife, Bonnie to Carson-Tahoe Hospital. Once Luke had been born, Mike motored to the game and coached the Tigers in a 13-7 overtime loss to South Tahoe.

The next week Douglas finally broke through, capturing a 20-7 homecoming win over Sparks.

The Tigers have not endured such a dry spell since.

Luke, who now plays defensive back for the Nevada, grew up to become the school's all-time leading passer with 4,064 yards passing and 39 touchdowns during his three-year career. He also never lost to South Tahoe.

Douglas finished 1985 at 1-7 and turned in a 1-8 record the next season.

The Tigers improved to 4-5 in 1987 and just narrowly missed their first playoff berth under Rippee in 1988.

Douglas put together a 5-3 record and rumbled to an emotional 28-22 victory over Carson in the season finale. At that time, the Tigers believed they'd qualified for the playoffs, but several minutes after the game they were informed that Reed had defeated Reno 14-3.

Because of the league's tiebreaker at the time, Reno and Reed both advanced while Douglas' season ended.

Douglas again made a push for the playoffs in 1991, and picked up one of the biggest upsets in school history along the way.

The Tigers came into homecoming as heavy underdogs against unbeaten Wooster. They put together an improbable fourth quarter and ran away with a 14-10 victory.

Douglas enjoyed winning seasons in three of the next four years and earned a long-awaited trip to the playoffs in 1996 after posting a 7-3 record.

After 12 seasons, it marked Rippee's first trip. In the 10 seasons since, however, his teams have only missed the playoffs once.

In fact, the bulk of his wins have come in those last 10 seasons as the Tigers piled up 58 of them. Thirty of those have come in the last four years.

In 1997, they earned their first playoff victory under Rippee, riding a last-second field goal off the leg of Chris Griffith to an upset win on the road against Elko.

The Tigers put together the best season in school history in 2003, an 11-1 run that saw Douglas push all the way to the regional championship game before a snow storm stopped them in their path.

Douglas came back with eight wins the next year, marking the second-best during Rippee's tenure.

"We've had some really good years and some really tough years," Rippee said. "Some of those tough years are the ones that I hold in my heart because of the type of kids they were."

"I don't think about those personal milestones. It's not something that concerns me. I'm focused on getting us into the playoffs, getting the opportunity to play for a championship. It has always been about the kids, not me. We'll just see how it goes."

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.