First-year McNary coach Josh Riddell was West Salem's offensive coordinator for the past six seasons.

As a ballboy for McNary's 1997 football state championship team, Josh Riddell dreamed of being a Celtic one day, taking after his two brothers.

By the time he entered high school, though, Riddell's father, Duane, had left McNary's coaching staff to be the head coach at McKay. Josh followed him across town to play for the Royal Scots, graduating in 2004.

“My dad kind of put the ball in my court,” said Riddell, who went on to become the Valley League offensive player of the year as McKay's quarterback. “I wanted to be with my dad more than anything.”

Now Riddell is back at McNary, this time as the head coach. He is tasked with getting the once-proud program off the deck after three consecutive 0-9 seasons. The Celtics enter this year with a 28-game losing skid, the state's longest current streak.

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” Riddell said. “I've lived in Keizer my whole life.”

It is the second head coaching job for Riddell. He went 4-23 in three seasons at McKay (2016-18) before spending the last six seasons as the offensive coordinator at West Salem.

“I never really had interest in being a head coach again. I didn't care to be one,” Riddell said. “But this is the one job that had my interest. It's something that I've always had interest in.”

McNary is a special place for Riddell, whose brothers, Tyson and Nick, played for the Celtics under legendary coach Tom Smythe. Riddell has daughters ages 9, 6 and 4 that attend school in the McNary district.

“There are times when I look back like, 'I could have won a state championship with my friends at McNary in 2001,'” he said. “I would've been a sophomore that year.”

After a standout high school career, Riddell played quarterback at Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College and Western Oregon. He coached with McNary's freshman team for before assisting under his father at Gervais (2012-14), serving as offensive coordinator. He assisted at West Salem before and after his head-coaching stint at McKay.

He was hired at McNary in January to replace Connor Astley, the team's coach for the last three seasons. He began recruiting the hallways for players in April after he began teaching special education at McNary. He also joined the board of the youth football program in an effort to streamline its connection with the high school.

He has a big job in restoring the image of the football program at McNary, where a dark cloud formed in 2023 after five freshman players were arrested in a locker room hazing incident.

“There was a lot of reasons for kids not to want to be at McNary,” Riddell said. “I want to give kids reasons to go to McNary and play on Friday nights in Keizer in their home community. … There's a light at McNary. I feel like it can change.”

Due to the Celtics' struggles, they will drop from 6A Special District 1 to 5A Special District 2 this season. They will play in a league that includes reigning state champion Wilsonville, Aloha, Canby, Forest Grove, Hillsboro and McKay.

“When I got hired, I knew that was part of the plan,” Riddell said. “I'm definitely in agreement with it. With 5A, it gives you a chance to schedule some nonleague games that maybe you match up against. Whereas in 6A, if we were in that same league, we could schedule one nonleague game, and that is a tough league.”

Riddell will serve as offensive coordinator. CJ McCrae, a McNary graduate and Riddell's former college teammate at Santa Rosa, will be the defensive coordinator.

Duane Riddell also has joined the staff. He was the head coach at Central (1980-1990), leading the team to a state title in 1983, as well as McKay (2000-04), Gervais (2012-14) and Perrydale (2016).

“He wouldn't stop. He wants to keep moving,” Josh said of his father. “I got him to come on board. He's a good guy to have around, and just a great resource for me, too.”

McNary's offense struggled last season, getting shut out five times and scoring a 6A-low 44 points, but Riddell believes he has some good building blocks. Senior quarterback Aris Vasseur is the returning starter, and senior receivers Gavin Burns and JJ Martinez and senior running back D'Sean Wynter show promise.

The Celtics open the season with home games against Redmond (Aug. 29) and Ridgeview (Sept. 5).