Sweet Home swimming coach Doug Peargin will be recognized as 4A Division Girls Swimming Coach of the Year this Saturday night by the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association at its annual awards banquet in Eugene.
Peargin, 72, has been coaching for 48 years, the last 41 at Sweet Home. He coached briefly at Bullard and Tracy high schools in California before moving to Sweet Home in 1974. He’s coached football, water polo and swimming at Sweet Home.
His girls team went 10-0 in dual meets last season and finished second at the state championships. His boys were third at state.
Former Sweet Home football coach Rob Younger, who is now OACA executive director, said Peargin was selected by the OACA board for the honor because “he’s very deserving.
“Even though his team didn’t win the state championship this year, our board recognized the outstanding accomplishments of this team and what Doug has accomplished,” he said.
Peargin said the credit for his coaching awards goes to his athletes.
“You can only get those because of the kids,” he said. “It’s 90 percent kids and 10 percent coaching. If you don’t have quality kids, you can’t coach. The kids put in the yards in the water. These were a fun group to work with. They were willing to give up a lot of extracurricular things, that they would have enjoyed, to get better.”
Younger said he’s known Peargin since 1980.
“He’s one of the first ones who welcomed me when I moved to Sweet Home,” Younger recalled. “He’s been a role model and somebody I could look up to. If I had questions about coaching, he was one I could ask.
“He has the proper perspective. It’s all about kids. He can take kids and have them excel in the pool, but when they step out of the pool they’re better people because of what he teaches them.”