Gary Beck finally finds the right time to reunite with Riley

The stars finally aligned long enough for ex-Corvallis High teammates/longtime friends Gary Beck and Mike Riley to coach together on the same football staff.

Family commitments forced Beck to back out of two previous opportunities to work with Riley, in 1987 with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and in 1997 during Riley’s first stint at OSU.

However, they weren’t a concern this past spring when Beck agreed to return home as a graduate assistant coach. His two daughters are grown up and on their own, and after 29 years of teaching and coaching at Corvallis and Redmond high schools he could take the leap he couldn’t make in good conscience the first two times Riley offered him a job.

“I had talked to Mike about (returning as a GA) when I completed 30 years of teaching, that it would be neat and exciting to get an opportunity to learn,” Beck, 52, said. “But I kind of put it on the back burner. Then (Riley) called me last spring and asked me if I’d want to move it up a year or two.

“We visited, I thought it was a great opportunity, and fortunately I’ve got a wonderful, supporting wife who was very encouraging about it. So we decided to do it.”

They sold their house in Redmond, and bought a new one in Corvallis. His wife, Vicki, returned to work at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. And Beck and Riley — friends since sixth grade, baseball, basketball, football teammates in the 1968-71 halcyon era of Spartans athletics — were finally reunited.

“You want to try to learn more,” Beck said. “I still had some years in coaching left, and this was a good thing to do.”

Beck coaches the running backs. He gets a modest stipend, and must take six hours of graduate-level schoolwork each term, classes that will complement the bachelor’s (1976) and master’s (1982) degrees he earned in his first go-round as an OSU student.

Riley said he never hesitated to pursue Beck a third time because he never questioned his friend’s previous two choices to put family responsibilities over professional advancement.

“I always admired the decisions Gary made, because he made them for exactly the right reasons,” Riley said. “It never affected our relationship. It’s just kind of neat that we kept trying.

“The timing for the opening, and the timing for his life, all worked together. He’s been a close friend for so long, and he is a really good coach ... we always wanted to do this.

“It’s just exactly what the doctor ordered for our players. Gary’s a quality person, educator and coach.”

Riley acknowledged that very few first-year graduate assistants are given complete responsibility for a position. Usually they assist an established assistant in a complementary, learning role.

“But Gary’s not 23 years old, and right out of college,” Riley said. “He knows how to coach, he has a background in the teaching of football. He can put a lesson plan down and teach guys how to play. He has 30 years of experience doing it.”

It’s not an unprecedented situation at OSU. GA Kanani Souza coached the tight ends in 2005 before returning home to Hawaii, and GA Bruce Read was the 2004 special teams coordinator until resuming a full-time assistantship in 2005.

Beck became CHS head coach in 1979 at 25 years of age. The Spartans were state champions in 1979 and 1983, runners-up in 1986, and won six Valley League championships. He resigned in 2001 after nine consecutive losing seasons had transformed a 116-40 record from 1979-92 to a 130-107 overall mark.

He didn’t coach for two years, and then moved to Redmond in 2004 and was the Panthers’ defensive coordinator under coach Craig Ruecker for two seasons before returning home after the 2005-06 school year.

“That was a great place to be,” he said of Central Oregon. “But they always say life is timing, and this is the right time to do this.”

Daughters LeAnne and Michelle were toddlers when he turned down the Winnipeg job, and in middle school when he left Riley’s first OSU staff after a week. They’re grown now; LeAnne attended OSU for four years and is studying to be a dental assistant; Michelle is a senior at OSU.

Beck said there are no guarantees he’ll become a full-time assistant if there’s an opening on the offensive staff.

“I’m just trying to do the best I can right now and get experience, and whatever happens, happens,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to learn more football and be involved in a good program at a good school. Being an alumnus, it’s an attractive thing to come back and work at your school.”

AT A GLANCE

WHO: Gary Beck

WHAT: Oregon State offensive graduate assistant; coaches running backs

HOMETOWN: Corvallis

EDUCATION: Graduated from Corvallis High in 1971. Graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in physical education (1976) and a master’s in education (1982)

FAMILY: Wife Vicky; daughers LeAnne (23), Michelle (21)

EXPERIENCE: CHS assistant coach, 1977-78; CHS head coach, 1979-2001; Redmond High defensive coordinator, 2004-05

ETC.: Lettered in football (1973) as a defensive back and in baseball (1972-75) as an infielder at OSU. ... His CHS teams won two state championships, six Valley League titles, and advanced to the playoffs 10 times. ... Also coached baseball and boys golf at CHS, and the OSU freshman baseball team in 1976. ... Mike Riley’s father, Bud, was his position coach at OSU in 1972-73.

QUOTE: “Size and speed are obviously the biggest factor. Football is football, but there’s just more intensity here. They’re all great athletes, with a purpose for being here.”

COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF AT OREGON STATE

* DAYS REMAINING: 10

* TODAY: Practice 2-5 p.m.

* COMING TuesDAY: Kyle DeVan mentors students off the field

* CHECK OUT THE BLOG: www.gazettetimes.com/sports