Nate Gillam

This season marks Coach Gillam's 7th season as head coach of the Bremerton Knight's. As an alumnus, Gillam's football roots in the community extended all the way back to his Warren Ave. PeeWee football days.

Currently, he is fifth longest tenured head football coach in 103 years of Bremerton/ West/Union High School football. He is fourth on the all-time list of games coached. And, is presently tied for 6th for most wins.

A starting Halfback/Linebacker on the 1990 Washington State AA Semi-Final team, Gillam was an integral part of the high school football program the day he put his pads on for the first time. A two-year starter on the freshman team (8th & 9th grade), Gillam also letters all three years at the high school level.. His senior year he received 1st-Team All-Olympic League honors at both the Running Back and Linebacker positions. Additionally, his teammates voted him Mr. Football, Bremerton High's highest football honor. In the spring he played baseball and was voted Captain his senior season.

Following graduation Gillam enrolled at Boise State University (Boise, Idaho) and earned a Bronco uniform as a walk-on running back. Impressed with his speed, then current Head Coach Skip Hall, moved Gillam to the wide receiver where he was coached by Jim Zorn, inaugural Seattle Seahawk quarterback and current Seahawk Offensive Speacialist. Although a quick study, Gillam missed the contact associated with being a running back/linebacker and asked to be moved over to defensive back. With no prior experience at the position, Gillam walked away from the 1992 Broncos spring practice #2 on the defensive back depth chart and an athletic scholarship.

In 1994 the Broncos played for the NCAA Div. I-AA National Championship, losing 28-14 to Youngstown State, coached by current Ohio State University head coach Jim Tressel. In the CBS broadcast game, Gillam recorded five tackles, three solo, from his defensive back position.

After graduating with honors (3.65 gpa) with Bachelor Degree in Communication Training and Developement and a minor in Business, four football letters, and being named to Big Sky All-Academic Team four consecutive years in a row, Gillam was hired as a Boeing Account Representative. While at Boeing he began coaching sophomore football at Kamiak High School (Mukilteo, Wash.) and had the privilege of helping three Knights become NCAA Divsion I Oregon State University players. Additionally, he helped the Kamiak make three consecutive trips to post-season play.

Realizing his calling was in coaching and teaching, not corporate America, Gillam returned to school at Antioch University in Seattle to earn his Master in Education. In 2000 Jeff Weible hired him to help start the Shorewood High football program, which had three post-season appearances in Gillam's three seasons. In 2003 returned to the Kitsap Peninsula as an assistant at Peninsula High School.

Nate and his wife Leah have three sons, Nathanial, Elliot, and Thomas.