Frosty Westering Excellence In Coaching Award (continued)

Robi Turley, Sumner High School Girls Soccer Coach

On Dec. 18, 2021, Jordan Thompson became the first Sumner High School graduate to be drafted by the Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL) when she was selected as the 50th overall pick by the Washington Spirit. A noteworthy accomplishment, you’re thinking, but what does this have to do with the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coach Award. After all, the award is named after Frosty (he was on a first-name basis with pretty much everyone), the National Football Hall of Fame member and long-time head coach who never had a losing record in 32 years at Pacific Lutheran University, and who led the Lutes to four national championships in eight title-game appearances. Frosty was an accomplished coach on the field, but it was his passion for developing character in his players and impacting the community beyond the field that helped make him a legend. Here’s the connection.

Thompson grew up in the area and played her prep soccer at Sumner High School for Robi Turley, another successful coach on the field who has helped to instill personal character and passion for the sport into countless girls who played soccer for the Spartans. Turley is this year’s winner of the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching Award.

Robi played at Auburn High School and for national powerhouse FC Royals during her high school years before splitting her collegiate career between the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of Oregon. At Oregon, she was a team captain and a Pac-10 All-Academic selection. A defender, she started every college game in which she played.

She got her career going at Kent Meridian High School, where she coached for two years. She made the move south to Sumner, where she “took a competitive team to a new level,” said her friend and former Sumner girls soccer coach Moe Orcutt.

Robi’s coaching accomplishments speak for themselves. She has been South Puget Sound League Coach of the Year eight times, Washington State Soccer Coaches Association State Coach of the Year two times, Tacoma News Tribune Area Coach of the Year twice, and Sumner Bonney Lake School District Coach of the Year on two occasions. Additionally, she was a finalist for the PCA National Double Goal Award Coach of the Year award. Her career win-loss record is 225–91–32, a .635 winning percentage.

Those are just the awards that she has won or been nominated for. Here is why that list is so long. Her teams have won seven SPSL championships, five West Central District crowns, and two Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association state titles. Not only that, but she has also taken 14 teams to the state playoffs, including 13 in a row.

Excellence In Coaching Recipients

2021 No recipients due to COVID-19

2020 Don Gustafson Girls Golf Life Christian, Joe Waters Boys Soccer Bellarmine Prep

2019 Paul Souza Softball & Volleyball Washington

Patty Ley X-Country Gig Harbor

2018 Sam Ring Boys Track & Field and Girls X-Country Wilson

Chris Gibson Girls Basketball White River

2017 Mark Bender Girls Golf Bellarmine Prep

Mark Lovelady Boys Basketball Life Christian

2016 Kevin Aoki Volleyball Pacific Lutheran

2015 Randy Davis Football Cascade Christian

2014 Gary Wusterbarth Boys Basketball Steilacoom

“I look at Robi as a players’ coach,” Orcutt said. “Her dedication, preparation, going the extra mile for the girls is why they love to play for her. She sets challenging yet attainable expectations for herself, the players and the program.”

And what is true of Robi on the field is also true off it, Orcutt said. “Over the years I have known several of Robi’s players and parents. They always have the highest praise about her coaching and who she is as a person. Robi cares about the players in and out of the season. I have seen her supporting them at other SHS events, fundraisers, and sporting events, often with her dad or children beside her. Robi is more than a coach, she is a role model every day. I am honored to call her friend.”

Many Sumner High student-athletes, under Turley’s guidance, honed their game to the point where they were able to play at the collegiate level, from NCAA Division I all the way to the community college level.