Scott DuFault, one of longest tenured football coaches in Salem-Keizer district, retires

Scott DuFault has had a hard time coming up with a response the last couple of days as people congratulate him on his retirement from coaching high school football.

“I don’t know what you’re supposed to say,” said DuFault, the longest-tenured head football coach in the history of South Salem High School.

After 24 years as head football coach at South Salem and 28 years as a head football coach, DuFault last week told Saxons’ players he was retiring.

He was the longest, currently tenured head football coach in the Salem-Keizer Public Schools district and was the second longest in district history (Robin Hill coached Sprague’s football team for 25 years from 1987 to 2011).

DuFault’s Saxon teams were as known for their balanced offenses and ball-hawk defenses as well as their consistent levels of success.

DuFault, 60, retires with a 163-118 record in 28 years as a head coach.

“We play the games to win, but I’ll be honest with you, the longer I did it, it was more about not chasing championships as it was helping kids," DuFault said. "That’s going to be the part that I miss the most.”

Scott DuFault's tradition of winning

At Lebanon High School, DuFault was good at pretty much every sport he tried.

He played football, wrestled and competed in track and field before graduating in 1982. As a running back, he once scored four touchdowns in a game against West Albany.

He went on to Stanford where he wrestled for two years, then played two years of football as a walk-on nose guard. He earned a letter playing for Stanford in 1985 for coach Jack Elway.

After graduation, DuFault spent one year on the football coaching staff at Western Oregon University. He was hired as a social studies teacher at McKay in 1988 and was on the football staff there.

Then he fell for Principal Guido Caldarazzo’s daughter, Anne-Marie, and they got married. He transferred to South Salem in accordance with the Salem-Keizer School District policy at the time.

He joined Randy Wegner’s football coaching staff at South Salem and coached there until 1994, including in the Saxons’ appearance in the 1991 state championship game.

DuFault returned to McKay in 1995 as an assistant under Ron August − his father-in-law was no longer there − then got the head job in 1996.

At McKay he had assistant coaches on the staff including Pete Sequeira (a longtime South Salem assistant), Greg La Fountaine (longtime McKay baseball coach), Sunset coach Damien Merrick, Hood River coach Caleb Sperry, the late Kenny Allen and Riverside coach Dave Boor.

“We had a good staff,” DuFault said.

As head coach at McKay from 1996 to 1999, he won his first game — an upset of Robin Hill’s Sprague team — made it to the state playoffs twice and won the Valley League championship in 1999.

But in 2000, South Salem coach Terry Haugen left the football head coaching position to focus on baseball. DuFault’s home was a few blocks from South Salem and he took the new job.

Return to South Salem as head coach

In his years at South Salem, the team went 141-100, according to OSAA records. The Saxons made the playoffs 17 times in 24 years and won league championships in 2000, 2001, 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2023.

He credits that consistency to the continuity of the coaching staff, noting many of the assistants also teach at the school.

“We’ve had some down years,” DuFault said. “But I think there’s a certain tradition at South for a long time. I would tell you probably the continuity of our staff."

There were many changes while DuFault was at South Salem. West Salem High School opened, the old Valley League changed to leagues that included Central Oregon and Southern Oregon schools, and high school football became a big business.

But South Salem was almost always competitive.

Both of DuFault’s sons, Zach and Jake, played football for him. And his daughter, Jordan, played volleyball at South Salem and was a standout in track and field.

DuFault retired from teaching social studies full-time three years ago, though he still teaches 2 1/2 days a week at the school. And he’s coaching South Salem’s wrestling team, a job he’s held since 2018 (and previously held from 1990 to 1995). He said he doesn’t know if he’s going to keep that job.

He and wife Anne-Marie spent 10 days in Spain last summer. He says he would like to travel the world.

“I kind of feel like I’m a high school senior again and the world’s open,” DuFault said.

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Scott DeFault retiring as head football coach at South Salem