MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake High School football program welcomes recently announced new head coach Brett Jay to the helm pending school board approval. This will be Jay’s fourth stop as a head coach ahead of the 2021 season this fall.

Brett Jay graduated from Riverview High School in Finley in 2002 where he was a three-sport athlete before earning his Bachelor of Arts at Heritage University. In addition to coaching, he plans to teach English at MLHS, although his schedule isn’t yet determined.

Jay took last year off from coaching after welcoming his third child with his wife, Hayley, and took advantage of the time away to get his administration credentials, as well. Before that, Jay had most recently served as head coach of Hanford High School in Tri-Cities for five seasons.

Jay had previous stints with Riverview High School and Monroe High School. After finding out former MLHS head coach Todd Griffith would be stepping down after this season, Jay said he wasted no time jumping at the opportunity.

“We loved the community, we loved the fact that it’s a one-high school town with multiple middle schools feeding that high school,” Jay said. “It’s just a really supportive community, so we’re excited.”

Jay said he loves coaching football and that it’s “what he’s supposed to do.” He added that his past positions have all prepared him for this.

“I’ve had growing pains over the years and I think each stop has prepared me for this one,” Jay said. “We’ve had successes at each stop so we’ll build on those but we’ve also had some bumps in the road and I’ve learned from those as well.”

He said he loves the process of the building before the season and is focused on getting things, such as practice plans, spring practices and coaching hires, taken care of quickly.

Jay said he is very excited to meet his new players, having heard nothing but great things so far about his squad. He said time is the only thing he has to build relationships with his team.

“All human beings are relational, just spend time working together and getting to know people, building relationships, that’s what it’s all about,” Jay said. “I look forward to doing that.”

He said his family likes to immerse itself in the community and he’s excited to get to know people in town. Jay said he plans to go “full-tilt” and implement his own system this spring and summer with the players.

He said he doesn’t like to shortchange his players in regard to how much they can learn and absorb and he always believes they can do more. Jay said the only way to get everyone on the same page is through repetition and trial and error.

“We’re going to do it all summer so by the time we get to fall, we’re ready to rock ’n’ roll,” Jay said.

Jay said he likes to run a spread no-huddle offense that forces the defense to cover the entire field. He said he tries to develop players at each position and, like any football program, will look to build a formidable force with his offensive line.

On defense, he said he likes to run a sort of 4-2-5 defensive set with multiple fronts to attack the opposing offense with. He said he looks to attack on special teams, as well, and hopes to secure as many possessions for the offense as possible.

Jay added he’s extremely thankful to the high school administration for making this opportunity possible.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.