WEST SALEM — Justin Jehn had no desire to stop coaching the West Salem High School football team after the 2023 season.
He did, however, want to advance his career when the opportunity to become principal at the school arose.
Jehn had been part of the football coaching staff for 21 seasons and was an assistant principal when Mike Malott retired, and Jehn was encouraged strongly to focus on being principal and to step away from football if he was hired for the job.
It made sense. The job was an important one he hadn’t done before, but that didn’t make leaving football behind easy when he was chosen to be principal.
Jehn’s return to the sideline — it was made official by the school board on Monday — will probably be a little different as he works on showing administrators and the school board that the jobs can be successfully balanced.
“I’ve grown a lot the last two years in leadership,” said Jehn, who coached the Panthers from 2014-2023 and was an assistant coach the 11 seasons prior. “I will probably rely more on my assistant coaches and approach this from a different perspective.
“There will be things that need to be done, but maybe they are done by someone different to create the necessary balance.”
Jehn was able to spend some coaching time as a volunteer at the freshman and middle school levels, and he said that helped “scratch the itch” during that time. But when he wasn’t helping, Jehn spent some of his time watching practices from the view of his home.
“Watching the game plan come to fruition from the patio door,” he said, “happened more frequently than I would have liked.”
Previous coach and current West Salem activities director Ryan Olson decided after last season ended that he was going to step away. Jehn said it took a little time for him to decide to pursue the job and convince the necessary people that the required balance could be found.
When he found out that some of the current assistant coaches would continue if he took over, it provided a boost in Jehn’s interest.
“Enough people were interested enough to stick around, and that provided a spark for me,” said Jehn, who took the Panthers to a WIAA Division 3 state championship game that it lost to Monroe in 2022. “It’s about relationships, and there are still some guys here that I worked with for some time.”
Jehn also has the advantage of having a short leave from the post. Instead of coming back 10 years later — or even five — he gets to work with players he has already coached. Jehn, whose teams were 65-35, is the coach who made current junior Drew McConkey the starting quarterback as a freshman.
McConkey is one of many standout players returning in the fall to help the Panthers make a run at the Coulee Conference championship and successful postseason. Seven other players eligible to return — running back/linebacker Lucas Fry, offensive lineman Luke Grube, offensive lineman Will Clements, defensive back Josiah Wolbrink, linebacker Isaiah Laack, kicker Landon Wiegrefe and offensive lineman Isaac Arentz — were also named all-conference first or second team.
“One thing that was fun to watch was all of those kids who grew up in the program getting out there and competing (in high school),” Jehn said. “A lot of them are returning, and I full anticipate that we will have to reacclimate with each other on some level.
“They were in great hands with Ryan, and I’m looking forward to this.”
