This will be the third time Dan Chase has led Seton Catholic football, and this time he expects to be the head coach for years

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The old coach is the new coach again for Seton Catholic football.

And the former teacher is going back to teaching again.

Officially, Dan Chase will return to being a math teacher next school year. He might as well be a history teacher.

He has seen it all in terms of Seton Catholic football.

Back in 2011, he was the school’s first football coach, leading a JV-only program at the time. The next year, the Cougars moved to varsity, where Chase was the head coach for three more seasons.

He left coaching and would become a vice principal at the school. He returned to the football field as a coach for the 2019 season while maintaining his position as a VP.

Now, after another change at Seton football, Dan Chase is back again, right where he started.

“When the decision was made, and I felt called to be the head football coach again, I made the decision that it’s going to be long-term,” Chase said.

He recalled being vice principal and coach in 2019, when that coaching position was pretty much on an interim basis. This time, it was going to be different. 

“I’m going to develop the program in a way that I feel our school deserves,” Chase said. “For that time commitment, for that energy commitment … I wouldn’t be able to do both effectively.”

So Chase is giving up his administration job to go back to teaching. In the classroom. And on the field.

To really appreciate this journey back to coaching, Chase also recalled the beginnings of the program.

Before Seton Catholic had its own campus, the school was in office buildings in east Vancouver. The football team had to practice at Cascade Middle School. The football equipment was stored in classrooms and Chase and an assistant coach would load and transport the equipment, every day, in their trucks. 

“The thing about Seton Catholic football is truly its humble beginnings,” Chase said. “We did our speed and agility workouts in the cemetery across the street from our old Seton Catholic building. Our weight room was an empty room that was used for storage.”

Today, Seton Catholic has its own campus, with a state-of-the-art weight room, and a football field in front of the school.

Oh, and since Chase last was the head coach, lights have been installed at the field.

“This will be the first time I’ve been able to coach Seton Catholic football for Friday Night Lights on campus,” Chase said.

He has big goals for the program, too. Seton Catholic has made it to the Week 10 playoffs, but has never advanced to the state playoffs. That would be the next step for the Cougars. 

There is a bigger mission, as well.

“We’re here to glorify the gifts that God has given us,” Chase said.

Football is just one of the tools used to accomplish that mission.

“The families that are involved in Seton Catholic … are the heart of our school,” Chase said. “In Catholic education, the parents are the first educators. All we do is support them in the education of their children. When you walk into Seton Catholic, we want it to feel like you are walking outside of the world into a different space, something that is unique and something that has a greater purpose. 

“We share a mission and the pillars of higher learning, deeper faith, and stronger character that build the young men and women that we want to go out into the greater world and change the world.”

Dan Chase will use football to carry on those Seton Catholic traditions.

“Seton Catholic is family,” he said.