ROYAL CITY – After spending 17 years as an assistant coach with the Royal Knights, Wiley Allred decided to “put my name in the hat” for head coach after Washington State Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer Bob Nielsen retired after the 1998 season.

“I was a little apprehensive because I wasn’t sure,” Allred said. “Anyway, I knew that things would change. Responsibilities-wise, I’d have to get there on time every day and put a little more into it. There were more changes because it’s different than being an assistant coach.”

Royal won its second WIAA state title the season after Allred took the job in 1999, and nine more titles have followed in the 21 seasons since then. Allred himself was inducted to the WSFCA Hall of Fame in 2018.

The long-time Royal head coach got his start in coaching in 1982, after playing defensive back at Walla Walla Community College then transferring to, and graduating from, Washington State University. Allred said he, like many other players-turned-coaches, has taken from his on-field experiences as a player to develop his coaching style.

“Coach Nielsen made me feel very welcomed and thought I could help,” Allred said. “Once I started with the kids, I just kept coming in. I found a way to get there after work on the farm. As an assistant for 17 years, it was fun, it was a way to get rewarded from relationships that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Under Allred, the Knights have a 274-28 record on the gridiron according to the WSFCA, good enough for a 91% winning percentage in 23 seasons.

“I think the kids come in with an expectation and a desire to do well,” Allred said. “The pressure that is negative pressure, we want to be positive. We just want them to do their best.”

What leads the program to success year after year? Simple, an “Everything matters” approach to each position on the field, according to Allred.

“My quote to them (the players) sometimes is ‘Everything matters,’ and I think everything does matter,” Allred said. “Their parent’s expectation, the community support, the getting in a program and feeling we can be successful, the trust in the coaches.”

Coming with the career wins are the state title appearances, where the Knights have excelled under Allred. After winning four titles in the 2000s, the Knights have won six of the last seven state championships. The 2022 season once again ended with hoisting a trophy, but the team had to do some roster gymnastics to end up in the title game after graduating 22 seniors from the 2021 roster.

“It’s very satisfying to see what ended up being a state championship, but just through the process, the kids really came together,” Allred said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in June or August, but we had a good feeling this was going to be a good group again.”

This isn’t the first time that Allred and the Knights have had to fill a significant amount of the roster, with another large group of seniors graduating in 2018.

“It’s small school football, even at larger schools it’ll happen from time to time,” Allred said. “There’s always some kids that are getting in the mix as far as playing time, but you kind of got to know what’s behind them – the work ethic, the culture and try to create that desire to work hard again.”

Royal fans saw numerous all-league players take to the field this season, including senior quarterback Dylan Allred, sophomore receiver Lance Allred and junior receiver Caden Allred. The trio is the latest group of Allreds to play for the Knights.

“There’s also a lot of Christensens, there’s a lot of other names,” Allred said. “There’s a lot of Hernandezes now, and they’ve really contributed. It’s enjoyable to have family on the team, they also know me better than most because they see all parts of you – some emotional and things like that – but that has been enjoyable. They pretty much figured out quickly that they get treated like everyone else.”

While Wiley Allred may receive the recognition, he noted that his fellow coaches on the Royal staff are just as crucial to the on-field successes as he is.

“I’ve got some really good assistant coaches,” Allred said. “Jeremy Scroggins does a ton with breaking down film. He’s our defensive coordinator. He spends as much time as anybody on all of that and does a great job as a leader as well. All the assistants have a role, and we feel like the last few years we’ve had a really good staff.”

In a hall-of-fame head coaching career that includes more than 250 career wins, 10 state championships and countless other achievements, Allred said one season that sticks out is the 2013 team.

“It was a tough year in terms of wins and losses, but we kept the team together,” Allred said. “We were third place in our league, we got blown out by Zillah earlier in the year. I mean blown out in every facet of the game, they were the No. 1 ranked team in the state, and then we got to play them in the crossover. We ended up beating them and went on to lose a close one in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion, Freeman. That game is probably the biggest upset I’ve ever been part of, and very rewarding as far as that goes.”

Allred has been on the staff for each of Royal’s 11 state title seasons, including 10 as the head coach. In a storied coaching career, Allred said he enjoys watching players grow into young men and coming back to visit down the road.

“More importantly is watching them become young men, and fathers, and husbands, and seeing them a few years later,” Allred said. “How they’ve matured, and some really have matured, others you just know are going to do really well. It’s just like an extended family that I get from coaching these kids.”

Ian Biovna may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.