Longtime coach, educator reflects on 'roller-coaster' career

Jackie Fuller is someone who approaches life with tenacity and is heading into retirement with the same drive after 34 years in education.

The longtime teacher, administrator and former volleyball head coach in Whitefish School District is retiring from her current position as the middle school principal at the end of the school year.

There is a lot of passion in Fuller’s voice when she speaks about working with students, whether on the court or in the classroom.

Coaching and leadership are two things that run through her blood.

Growing up in Anaconda, Fuller was an athlete. Her main sport was competitive swimming. She also participated in track and played on a summer softball league, but it was basketball where she learned one of life’s difficult lessons.

“I was cut out of the basketball team junior year. I’ll never forget that day. They said, ‘we can’t have you with a bad attitude.’ It was very devastating, yet it was educational for me,” Fuller said.

The insight from the experience motivated her to help others avoid going down the same path.

“I think that experience helped shape me. Life isn’t all that easy if you have a bad attitude,” Fuller said.

Going into college, Fuller knew she wanted to work with children and went into education, earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education/health and business education from University of Montana Western. This year, she was inducted into the university’s Education Hall of Fame.

“I just knew I wanted to work with kids. I wanted to make an impact in kids’ lives. I knew teaching would help me find my way into coaching,” she said.

During her tenure as the Whitefish High School head volleyball coach she led five state championship teams. Yet, surprisingly, volleyball wasn’t a sport Fuller competed in as a youth. It wasn’t until she was student-teaching in Butte when she was asked to be an athletic trainer at Montana Tech that she learned the sport by sitting in on practices.

In her first teaching job in Shelby in 1984, she started coaching volleyball. Her playbook came from, well, a book.

“I had a book from college, how to play volleyball 101, and that’s how I designed my practices,” she said.

By 1988, her team won the Class B state championship title.

“People can aspire to be anything they want to be as long as they put the time and effort into it.”

One of the people she was influenced by in her career was former Whitefish basketball coach and PE teacher Julio Delgado.

“Besides my husband and my kids, Julio molded me to who I am as a coach and leader. We team-taught for 19 years,” Fuller said.

She also credits coaching successes to former volleyball assistant Lucy McFadden, who is currently a teacher at Whitefish Middle School.

“The other thing I’ve been blessed with, is Lucy McFadden. So Lucy and I did everything when we coached together — she complemented me, and I complemented her,” she said.

McFadden said Fuller will be greatly missed.

“Jackie Fuller is an outstanding educator and coach. I am extremely lucky to have known and worked with her for the past 25 years,” McFadden said. “Jackie has always held her students and athletes to the highest standards. Her passion for what she does is obvious and evident each and every day.”

With a talent for leadership and organization, going into administration seemed a natural transition.

From 2009 to 2016, she was an administrator at the high school, serving as either activities director or high school assistant principal, and for a period of time (2011-2014) as both. She moved to the middle school in 2017.

Fuller earned a Master of Educational Leadership in administration in 2015 from Rocky Mountain College.

Whitefish High School Principal Kerry Drown has known Fuller since they were both initially hired into the district as teachers in 1991.

“During that time we have worked together as teachers, coaches, administrators, yet most importantly, as friends,” Drown said, later adding, “her energy and authentic joy is contagious.”

He also lauded Fuller for her organizational skills, dependability and punctuality along the lines of “If you’re not 10 minutes early, you’re 15 minutes late.”

“Possibly because of her Anaconda roots, Jackie has guts! She is committed, loyal, courageous and an extremely hard worker,” he said.

What kept her in Whitefish School District all these years were the teachers, the kids and the community.

“I really bleed green and gold,” Fuller said. “I couldn’t see myself in another color.”

What are her plans after retirement?

“Boy I’m just hoping to jump into some different things I’ve been hoping to do in my life for some time,” Fuller said.

“I want to continue working with kids as a motivational speaker” she said. “I want to talk to kids about leadership, character-building and how we work through hard times and it pays off in the end — persistence. I want to go around and speak to parents about being parents and enjoying kids’ careers in athletics. Let those kids fail. It’s OK to fail.”

Fuller is not one to mince words and occasionally, that has been met with opposition.

In 2017, she received a reprimand that was later revised as part of a settlement regarding what the district referred to as “public fallout” over an interview she did with the Daily Inter Lake announcing her resignation as the head volleyball coach.

In looking back on that experience, Fuller summed up thoughts by saying, “I really wish people would understand I can’t change to be somebody else. I have high expectations for everybody.

“We really need to get our parents now to instill that in these kids, that hard work does pay off but, you’ve got to work hard. Good things aren’t going to come easy, but that’s the best part about it.”

Through it all, Fuller likens life to a roller-coaster ride.

“I love, love riding roller-coasters and that’s what life has been. There are ups and there are big downs, but then you go up again,” Fuller said.

“I love it. Sometimes it takes your breath away and then it fills it back up. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been a great ride, a wonderful ride,” she said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.