The Wolf on Lee Street - By Seth Shook

    The second-most winningest head coach in Richland Bomber Football history, Mike Neidhold, has been one of the most significant factors in winning for the Bombers in their dominance of the Mike Neidhold era. 

Photo courtesy of Jon Dean.

    Mike started as the head coach in 2008 and is still going strong going into his 14th season as a head coach. Mike was also a Bomber alum (class of ‘76). As a Bomber, he played football and baseball and was very passionate about sports. After high school, he played college football for Eastern Washington University and Central Washington University. Mike said he enjoyed the college experience, but it “tore my body up.” Neidhold also said it gave him a different perspective on football and helped him learn more about the game, only knowing about Richland football at the time. “I don’t know if I would do it again, but it was really really really good for me to have a different perspective of what really happens in college and I try to share that with the boys in today’s world and culture,” said Neidhold. 

Mike Neidhold (#11 in the bottom left) was the starting quarterback of the Bombers. Photo courtesy of Tait Meyer.

    Neid’s love for football started as a young boy when he was six years old. He went to his first Bomber football game. His dad taught driver’s-ed at Richland High School one fall. On a Thursday, he went with his dad to his classes with many of the Richland football players, telling him to go to the game on that Friday night. All day Friday, Neid was antsy and excited to go to his first-ever football game at the Bomber bowl. That night was one of those cold rainy nights, and especially at Fran Rish, the rain made it a mud pit. “I remember sitting with my dad in his overcoat, all tucked in, staying warm in the fall, with the smell of the rain on all the wood that used to be there, and it just all had this wonderful ambiance to the event… ever since then I have become a football junky.” Neid’s love for football has grown tremendously since then, coaching with and being coached by some of the most influential coaches in Richland history. One coach in particular that Neid had the opportunity to coach with was Lonnie Pearson, the winningest coach in Bomber football history. Neid and Lonnie were very close. They had a close relationship between a coach and his player. According to Neid, he had come back from college, and driving past Fran Rish Stadium, Lonnie was getting out of his truck to go to practice. He pulled in to see how he was doing, and Lonnie invited him to practice. “I came back and followed him around for one day, and next thing you know, I was coaching.”

Mike Neidhold (left) and Josh Jelinek (right) hold up the 2017 4A trophy. Photo courtesy of Jon Dean.

    Neid has made a lot of great relationships through coaching. One of his good friends he has been coaching with for ten years is Josh Jelinek, the Richland football team offensive coordinator. “I met coach Neidhold in the spring of 2010 at the tri-city football camp at Hanford high school” Jelinek has also been a staple for Richland’s dominance in the past decade. His high football IQ has been the root of this, Graduating from the University of Idaho, where coach  Jelinek had played offensive linemen. From the moment Jelinek and Neid met, they were good friends, and coaching together had really built up their relationship Jelinek had said that he has always loved Neid for his passion for the game and how important the Richland Bombers are to him. Neidhold and Jelinek have both been key success factors for the Bombers in recent years. They had won the 2017 4A state championship. This was the Bombers’ third state title win, and this was the second year in a row that they went to the state final, losing the year before to a great camas papermakers team. Jelinek talked about his favorite memory with Neidhold in which he said the state title “There are so many to choose from, there are some really high highs and really low lows, some of the lows are more important than people would imagine….” Jelinek could not pick and choose. He had to give me two memories that correlated together “Obviously, winning a state title is one of the biggest ones, just seeing how much he loves this program and how his family is very involved in the culture of Richland and its athletics altogether. It was just very important for us to finish that journey together. When we lost the year before, I was finishing my admin mentorship and thought that that was gonna be my last season coaching. I remember sitting on the bench after losing to camas, thinking that I cannot go out this way and I had gotta help coach Neidhold put a ring on that shelf, and going back for the next twelve months and completing that mission was crucial. I think when we talk about the ups and downs of stuff, and we try to teach this stuff to you guys as a life lesson coach, Neidhold had a family tragedy my second year here, and for him to be able to go take care of his family at that time, he kind of handed me his whistle with the shoelace that he still wears to this day, and he said hey take care of this for me for a couple of weeks, I think being able for him as a man to go take care of his family and show the importance of life over football was a true teaching moment for us and we have been able to repay each other with that a few times over the years, and I think that is very important memory to me.” 

Neid with Seth Shook. Photo courtesy of Jon Dean.

    Neidhold has been around for many years and has greatly impacted countless people. From being the football captain to becoming a Richland teacher to coaching for over 20 years, Neid is truly leaving a legacy behind him. It is easy to say Neidhold has done it all. When asked what his favorite memory was as a Bomber, Neidhold sat there thinking really long and hard, and as he tried to talk, he could not help but shed a few tears as he answered the question with full emotion in his voice. “There’s too many to count. I’ve had an unbelievable experience being able to coach and play here. Its been a wonderful thing for me. Personally, I think what I’m most proud of is the relationships with coaches, players, and people that I have met from having this job. I’m just really, really, really lucky and really, really grateful. The memories, there’s just too many. It has been a rich and wonderful ride, you know, but we still have memories to make it, uh... Really been good.”

Coaches meet with the team against Walla Walla. Photo courtesy of Jon Dean.

    With Coach Neidhold going into his 36th year coaching, some will say his time is almost over, and if you ask him yourself, he will also say that his dash is slowly coming to an end. But for Neid, he is simply making the most out of every day and taking nothing for granted. Thank you, coach Neid, for all the memories and lessons you have taught us. We love you.

    Coach Neid and his Bombers just finished the regular season and are headed to Eastmont to play the 5-3 Wildcats in a win-or-go-home matchup for state playoffs.

After 30+ years of coaching, Neid still finds love in what he does. Photo courtesy of Jon Dean.