'Pied Piper' has 'Dogs back in Wheeling
Thursday, November 30, 2006
By LUKE BRIETZKE - The Journal

MARTINSBURG — Ten years into Martinsburg football coach David Walker’s tenure, it’s easy to take the program’s success for granted.

After all, this is the ninth consecutive season the Bulldogs have qualified for the playoffs and Saturday will mark the fourth time in six years they have played for a state championship.

But 15 years ago, such success would have seemed unlikely.

From 1991-1997, Martinsburg managed just two winning seasons.

It was during ’97 that the high school pushed for a change of what had become a losing culture.

Newly hired athletic director Jim Carpenter, who had resigned as Jefferson’s principal, and Rick Deull, who was Martinsburg’s principal at the time, wanted to find someone capable of transitioning the program from dormant to dominant.

“The program wasn’t very good. It wasn’t where they wanted it to be,” Carpenter said. “The first thing we dealt with (after I was hired) was getting a new football coach. When we did interviews, there wasn’t much doubt who we wanted.”

They wanted Walker, who Carpenter said had developed a reputation as one of the best coaches in the state.

At the time, Walker was earning that reputation while coaching Class A East Hardy. He had engineered a similar turnaround for that program. Before he took over, the school had just seven wins in nine years.

Walker led East Hardy to seven consecutive playoff appearances.

“It was a little tougher there because you didn’t have as much and didn’t have as many kids,” Walker said.

Still, postseason disappointment found Walker. Year after year he guided his team to the playoffs only to meet a school with more students to choose from and more talent.

“I really enjoyed my time down there. I almost got to the point where I thought I was never going to leave,” Walker said. “I really don’t think I could’ve done any more than I did there because we’d get in the playoffs and only twice we’d get past the first round. At East Hardy, we had less than 250 kids (grades) 9 through 12. And we’d go and compete against some of the bigger schools in (Class) A and we really just couldn’t compete with them.

“I just felt that if I was going to continue to coach, I needed a different direction.”

Walker applied for the Martinsburg job in 1994, but did not get it.

Regardless of what the situation was, Walker waited.

“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Walker said. “And at that particular time, there was a reason I didn’t get it and things worked out for the have any control over.”

Three years later, in 1997, he got a job offer — from Central High School in Woodstock, Va.

Walker was excited about the opportunity, but he held out on signing until he was assured his wife had a job. That job at the high school fell through and Walker, who had not yet signed a contract, elected to resign from the position before ever coaching a game.

Opportunity knocked later that summer.

Carpenter and Deuell corrected the mistake of the school previously passing on Walker, giving him the head coaching position and charging him with the task of elevating Martinsburg back to the glory days of the ’80s.

The first year didn’t exactly put the area on notice.

“It was a rough first year for Dave. Things didn’t go too well,” Carpenter said. “But we really weren’t interested in what happened that first year. We were interested in the building blocks for the next year.”

Walker said he didn’t realize how big of a job turning Martinsburg around was until he got there.

The Bulldogs struggled to a 1-9 record that year. Their only win came in the last game — a 21-14 win over Riverdale Baptist.

“That was a big win for us because it let us know that (the hard work) might not pay off right away, but eventually hard work does pay off,” said Scott Gusic, who played for both the 1997 and 1998 teams and currently coaches the freshman football team and varsity wrestling team. “That really swung us into the offseason.”

After that first season, Walker said he employed the same blueprint to improve Martinsburg as the one he used to turn around East Hardy.

The following year, Walker’s team became a formidable opponent. After a 40-14 season-opening loss to Musselman, Martinsburg punished a Frederick team Carpenter remembered as being a solid team. The Bulldogs won that game 54-0 and went on to qualify for the playoffs.

“I think the reason we had success so quickly was because we had a group of kids that was very hungry to win,” Walker said. “They never had a very good strength program. They had a weight room, but they didn’t have anything in it. And they just committed themselves. We got them stronger, we got them faster and by the next year we were pretty good.”

In addition to a weight-lifting program, Walker helped instill confidence in a group of athletes unaccustomed to winning.

He said getting the players to believe in themselves is crucial in turning around a program.

“Not only do they have to believe in themselves, they have to believe in each other and they have to be able to depend on the other guy and they care about each other,” Walker said. “At the high school level, if you get the guys to believe in you as a coach, and your coaches, each other and themselves, you have to be successful.

“Regardless of the X’s and O’s and what you’re doing offensively and defensively, if you get kids who really love to play and enjoy being with each other and believe in your system, you’re going to have success.”

They didn’t escape the first round — a 19-13 loss at Huntington — but it wasn’t difficult to find a silver lining.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen that quickly,” Carpenter said. “Things just fell into place. I call (Walker) the pied piper. Wherever he goes, good things happen and everything just falls into line.”

Walker recalls that 1998 team as one of his favorite groups.

In fact, several players from that team went on to serve on his coaching staff — Britt Sherman, Gusic and Tyler Boswell.

Gusic was there for the 1-9 season and the playoff season and credits Walker as being a tremendous influence in his life.

“Coach Walker came in and really challenged us in a way that a lot of us had never been challenged,” Gusic said. “He let us know that it was a level playing field and that we only got what we worked for. Our previous accomplishments meant nothing, word of mouth meant nothing. It was all about what you proved every single day. And a lot of us really enjoyed that challenge.”

Martinsburg won six games that season. Since then, the Bulldogs have won nine-plus most years and have won at least eight games every season.

“We really wanted to be the group that turned things around,” Gusic said. “Now, talking to guys who played, we take a lot of pride. We’re very proud of where the program is now and we’re very proud to have helped contribute to that so many years ago.”

Still, it took Walker and Martinsburg three years to advance past the first round of the playoffs.

Once they were able to shake that trend in 2001, the Bulldogs went to the state finals. Though they lost the game, 28-17 to Parkersburg, it was apparent that Martinsburg had become a force in the state.

That year, wide receiver Brandon Barrett burst onto the scene. In 2002, it was quarterback Nate Sowers’ turn.

Sowers threw 49 touchdowns, 26 to Barrett, and Walker’s spread offense became one of the state’s most prolific attacks.

During their run together, Barrett won back-to-back Kennedy Awards — honoring the most outstanding player in West Virginia — and Sowers won one as well. They also both continued their careers at West Virginia University.

“Those two are great players and they’ve given Martinsburg great publicity,” Walker said. “They’re great kids and we won a lot of ballgames for us over the years.”

But critics remained.

Even with two Kennedy Award winners, Walker was unable to bring home a state championship. His teams fell short all three times in the finals — in 2001, 2003 and 2004. In 2002, with both Barrett and Sowers, the Bulldogs didn’t even reach the finals. After winning the first 12 games, they were upset at home, 24-21, by No. 6 Parkersburg South.

“They say that winning the first one’s the toughest,” Walker said. “That’s what they say and obviously it must be true. I don’t really give a lot of thought to what has happened to us in the past. It stings for a while and then you just move on.

“I approach (coaching) a little different than I did, say, five, 10 years ago. I’ve learned to deal with losses, I’ve learned to deal with adversity a little better. I don’t spend a lot of time getting upset about it any more. You do the best you can, you live with the results and you move on.

“The fact that we got beat, two out of the three times, we probably got beat by the better team. The other team was a pretty good team, too. And you’re never going to win one unless you get there, so you’ve got to keep getting there. And I figure, if we get there enough times, we’re bound to get lucky enough to win one of them.”

Last year, the program’s first after Sowers, Martinsburg managed a 9-1 regular season record even after losing starting quarterback Dustin Peters to a knee injury. But the season ended in disappointing fashion, with a 26-21 home loss to Hurricane in the first round of the playoffs.

This season, expectations weren’t necessarily as high for Martinsburg — which lost a good portion of last year’s starting defense. In fact, Carpenter said he thought this is one of the best jobs Walker has done.

“I think it all falls back to kids believing in each other and believing in themselves,” Walker said. “I don’t think there was anyone other than the people directly associated with the program that felt they could do what they’ve done.”

All those seasons that have ended in frustration and disappointment could finally disappear Saturday when Martinsburg makes its fourth appearance under Walker in the state finals.

But as far as the program has come over the past decade, some still remember where it was before Walker took the reins.

“Not too many things happen that you can be proud of when you’re a school administrator,” Carpenter said. “Every time you hire someone, you expect the best things to happen. And this is one of those times it did. If I told you I thought they’d be playing for four state championships in six years, I’d be lying. I don’t think anyone expected this type of success to be honest.”

That may not be entirely true. Walker may have expected it.

Walker has already restored a historic program. He has just one test left to pass.

It starts Saturday at noon.

Regardless of the outcome, Walker hasn’t lost sight of why he initially decided to become a football coach.

“This is my 19th year as a head coach. I started when I was 23 and I was the youngest head coach in the state,” Walker said. “This has been a great experience for me. I’ve been blessed to have great assistant coaches and great players. I can’t imagine me not coaching. I really enjoy what I do. I have a passion for it.

“We’ve won a lot of ballgames here at Martinsburg. It’s not about the wins and losses for me, it’s about the competition and it’s about watching the young men mature and grow over the course of three or four years. That’s really what I enjoy — just trying to prepare these guys for life after school and prepare them for adulthood.”