POULSBO — When Bainbridge coach and teacher Jake Haley enters his first head football coaching position, he won’t be wearing purple and gold. In fact, he won’t even be anywhere near Kitsap County.

The eight-year Spartans’ coach and Kingston resident has accepted an offer to become head coach at El Toro High School in Orange County, Calif., thus declining the head position at North Kitsap High School.

At El Toro, he’ll be reunited with principal Dave Ellick, who left Bainbridge High School in 2003 after 18 years as head of school. His brother, Joe Haley, also lives in the area, another reason he said he and his family would make the move.

“I wish North all the best,” said Haley, who had been recommended by an internal hiring committee to become the Vikings’ new coach in late January. “But I felt that I would have been putting my energy into putting out fires and not in making game plans.”

Those “fires” emerged when several community members voiced opposition with the football hiring committee’s decision to select an out-of-district candidate over several North Kitsap School District applicants. The process was further thrown into flux when a grievance was filed by North Kitsap Athletics and Activities Alliance (NK AAA) President Trish Olsen. Olsen claims in a release that “there were contractual gaps in the interview process.”

Haley’s decision means that finding out just who will succeed 32-year coach Jerry Parrish, who retired in January, will have to wait. Three other candidates — NKHS baseball coach Steve Frease, current Vikings’ defensive coordinator Dave Snyder and Jeff Weible, an NKHS graduate and former Klahowya coach who was hired to take over Parrish’s physical education duties — were confirmed by several sources as also in the running for the job.

NKSD officials said similar situations in the past have resulted in a reconvening of the hiring committee. But whether they choose to select one of the other three candidates, create an entirely new hiring process or pursue another option altogether is the group’s prerogative.

The grievance process will continue regardless of Haley’s decision. The North Kitsap School District contract with the NK AAA dictates that if the matter cannot be settled within the district with NKSD Executive Director of Learning Support Services Gregg Epperson, the NK AAA can appeal the decision with the American Arbitration Association, which will make a final ruling.

As for Haley, the Kitsap native is awaiting the final decision by the Saddleback Valley Unified School Board. If approved, he’ll become coach of the El Toro Chargers, a school of more than 2,500 students in Orange County, Calif. He had informed the North Kitsap School District that he was applying to other programs from the beginning of the hiring process.

Haley grew up on Bainbridge Island and was the Spartans’ starting quarterback, graduating in 1993. He served as a back-up quarterback at Whitworth College in Spokane until he graduated in 1997 and moved back to Kitsap County.

Haley added that ultimately, he wanted to find a program with which he could help build and become successful. He found that would now be difficult at North Kitsap.

“I think very highly of North’s kids and all the athletes there,” he said. “But there was obviously some hostility (about the decision). I thought, ‘Is this the battle I want to fight?’”

— NKHS baseball coach Steve Frease, current Vikings’ defensive coordinator Dave Snyder and Jeff Weible, an NKHS graduate and former Klahowya coach who was hired to take over Parrish’s physical education duties — were confirmed by several sources as also in the running for the job.

NKSD officials said similar situations in the past have resulted in a reconvening of the hiring committee. But whether they choose to select one of the other three candidates, create an entirely new hiring process or pursue another option altogether is the group’s prerogative.

The grievance process will continue regardless of Haley’s decision. The North Kitsap School District contract with the NK AAA dictates that if the matter cannot be settled within the district with NKSD Executive Director of Learning Support Services Gregg Epperson, the NK AAA can appeal the decision with the American Arbitration Association, which will make a final ruling.

As for Haley, the Kitsap native is awaiting the final decision by the Saddleback Valley Unified School Board. If approved, he’ll become coach of the El Toro Chargers, a school of more than 2,500 students in Orange County, Calif. He had informed the North Kitsap School District that he was applying to other programs from the beginning of the hiring process.

Haley grew up on Bainbridge Island and was the Spartans’ starting quarterback, graduating in 1993. He served as a back-up quarterback at Whitworth College in Spokane until he graduated in 1997 and moved back to Kitsap County.

At El Toro, he’ll be reunited with the principal, Dave Ellick, who left the Bainbridge High School principalship in 2003 after 18 years. His brother, Joe Haley, also lives in the area, another reason he said he and his family would make the move.

But Haley added that ultimately, he wanted to find a program with which he could help build and become successful. He found that would now be difficult at North Kitsap.

“I think very highly of North’s kids and all the athletes there,” he said. “But there was obviously some hostility (about the decision). I thought, ‘Is this the battle I want to fight?’”