Steve Yeiter just couldn't stay away, not that anyone around the Gold Beach football program is complaining.

After taking the 2005 season off to rest as he recovered from ongoing heart problems, Yeiter returned to the sidelines this fall as defensive coordinator for the No. 4 Panthers, who have reached the Class 3A semifinals and a matchup Saturday against Santiam Christian at Cottage Grove High School.

His knowledge and personality are a big part of why the Panthers still are playing football this week.

“I love having him back,” said Gold Beach senior James Taylor, who works directly with Yeiter as pupil among the team's linebackers, a unit Yeiter coaches. “He knows what he's talking about. He played linebacker when he was in high school and he was pretty good. He knows how to teach it really well.”

As defensive coordinator, Yeiter provides a good contrast to head coach Kevin Swift.

“He's a good balance to my energy and my intensity,” Swift said. “I'm very high energy. I'm very high intensity. Not that he's not those things. He just comes about it in a totally opposite way. I think that's good.”

“He's more the discipline dad and I'm the dad who gets to have fun,” Yeiter said. “I'm the hoopla dad.”

Yeiter has a good sense of humor, which can help ease tense moments. He also is a good motivator, which has come through this year in pregame pep talks he calls his visions, just before the team heads onto the field for kickoff.

“He's got that upbeat, excited attitude,” Taylor said. “It puts the guys in a good mood and it really relaxes the guys, and me too. It's important to be relaxed.”

Yeiter has been known to use props in his pep talks, including a stick painted like dynamite before the Panthers beat Glide to clinch the outright league title.

“He said, ‘You've got to come out fired up and blow these guys away,'” Taylor recalled of that motivator.

Among the favorite gimmicks this year was when Yeither stomped on a set of antlers before the Panthers played Bonanza, which uses Antlers as its nickname.

“That got us pumped up,” said Mitch McDonald, another one of the linebackers.

Yeiter has enjoyed his pep talks, and even added theme music - often from the rock group AC/DC.

“The kids look forward to Yeiter's visions,” Yeiter said. “It's a lot of fun. Some of the players are good at getting involved.”

Taylor has been part of one recurring vision, involving a hard-boiled egg.

“I would hold onto it and he would try to knock it out of my hands because it represents having a goose egg,” Taylor said, referring to when the defense shuts out an opponent.

Those light-hearted, yet serious, moments were gone from the team last year, when Yeiter took his second break from coaching.

He started working with Swift in 1998. But he had three open heart surgeries in an 18-month period in 2002 and 2003 to help treat endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart.

Yeiter returned to help coach the 2004 team that reached the state championship game. But because of his medical problems, he retired from being the school's athletic director, and also stopped coaching, last year.

“I was making some pretty heavy decisions in my life, what I was going to do and try to get healthy,” he said. “(Work) was taking a toll on me.”

So he retired from working full time, though he comes back to the high school as a substitute, which he enjoys.

“I can still connect with the kids,” he said. “It's nice - kind of like being a grandparent. You go and have fun with them and then you're done.”

His close relationship with Swift made him want to return to the football sidelines.

“We work well together,” Yeiter said. “He's kind of taught me from the ground up. He thinks I have an instinct for the game. I think I'm more an engineer of his philosophy.”

Yeiter said he and Swift are more old-school coaches who share the same philosophy: “Defense wins games. Period.”

Swift was excited when Yeiter wanted to return.

“He knew that whenever he was ready, he could come back,” Swift said. “He kind of had a standing invitation.”

The two coaches spend a lot of time together off the field, and Swift hopes their friendship is another lesson for the team.

“I think the kids know that not only do we coach together, but we're good friends, so they see the interaction between two men who love football and (see) it's a good model for how they should be together,” he said.

“I think the other thing the kids love is he'll pick the perfect time to needle me and get me to laugh and get the kids busting up - and everybody's at ease.”

Yeiter wanted to stay involved at the high school while his daughter, Emmie, is still a student. After football season, he plans to help Jim Hulslander coach the girls basketball team.

“My first love is football,” he said. “I've probably coached more basketball than football, but football is still my passion.”

Swift thinks the work coaching is good for Yeiter's health because it has kept him from withdrawing from a regular lifestyle.

“He's down (at the school) all the time,” Swift said. “The kids love seeing him. He's always got a smile on his face.”

“We're having fun,” Yeiter said. “I told (Swift) I'd stay with him as long as I'm having fun.”