1. KAYLYN PETERSON
For the News-Register
Following in their fathers’ foot step is more than a metaphor for seven
McMinnville basketball players.
Jeff Autencio, Sean Coste, Dan McMillan, Kris Olsen and Tony Vicknair —
all Linfield College alumni — decided to make McMinnville their home after
graduation and they raised their families here. The connections run even
deeper. The four played basketball for the Wildcats and have sons or daughters
that are currently playing for McMinnville High School.
The Grizzlies boys and girls basketball teams both competed in the 6A
state playoffs. The boys team matched up with West Linn on Feb. 26, but did
not continue on to the next game after losing 55-74. The girls team played on
Feb. 27 against West Salem, where they lost, 30-56.
Jeff Autencio studied and played at Linfield from 1975 to 1979. The
three-time letterman earned a degree in education and even went back to
school for the Masters program a year later. Jeff has taught for 32 years, the
last 29 in the McMinnville School District. His sons — senior Nicholas Autencio
and junior Tanner Autencio — play varsity basketball for the Grizzlies.
Sean Coste was a three-year letter winner for the Wildcats and competed
from 1985 to 1988. He earned a degree in education at Linfield, and he now

2. teaches in McMinnville. Sean Coste also coaches the McMinnville girls basketball
team. Coste’s son, Michael, is a senior on the Grizzlies varsity team.
Dan McMillan was also a three-time letter winner at Linfield. He was
teammates with Coste from 1984 to 1988. McMillan’s oldest daughter, Jessica,
now plays for Linfield’s women’s team. His daughters, Grace and Audrey, are
both on Mac’s girls varsity team.
Kris Olsen also earned an education degree from Linfield College and
made the transition from Lincoln City to McMinnville permanent. Olsen, who
played for the Wildcats from 1979 to 1981, is the principal at McMinnville High.
Junior Molly Olsen is a starter for the Mac girls varsity.
Tony Vicknair joined the McMinnville education system after graduating
from Linfield College. He was a Wildcat from 1985 to 1989. Vicknair met his
wife, Jodi, at Linfield. Shortly after getting married, Vicknair received a job with
the McMinnville School District. Except for a two-year stint as the assistant
principal at South Salem High School from 2000-02, Vicknair has taught since
1989 in McMinnville. Vicknair’s son is a senior on the boys varsity team at Mac.
His daughter, Madisen, is a standout volleyball player for the Grizzlies.
“After just a short time living in McMinnville, I realized that this was a
great place to raise a family and have never moved,” Vicknair said. “I still
believe that.”
McMinnville seniors Nick Autencio, Michael Coste, Taylor Vicknair and
Grace McMillan, junior Molly Olsen and sophomores Tanner Autencio and

3. Audrey McMillan have followed the athletic paths of their fathers. All seven
athletes grew up participating in athletics but were never pushed so far as to
feel much pressure from their fathers.
For the Autencios, growing up in a home where sports were the focal
point had a great deal of influence in them continuing to play throughout their
lives. As a coach for 32 years, Jeff Autencio said his boys were always playing
something. Nick earned all-state honors and was named the Pacific Conference
Player of the Year in soccer in the fall.
“The influence probably comes from just being around the game,” Jeff
Autencio said. “It was either us watching games on the television or them
coming to my practices since they were knee high. All my boys grew up with a
ball in their hands; there was never a time when they weren’t involved in some
sort of athletics.”
Molly Olsen had the same sort of influence growing up. Being surrounded
by the game was just another thing she could bond with her father about.
“Because I am now a high school principal, I can no longer coach,
although I coached Molly’s youth teams from about grades four through eight,”
Kris Olsen said. “Because it was something we did together, I think she realized
it was important to me, and as a result she grew to enjoy it as well.”
With all seven McMinnville students participating the athletics growing
up, it wasn’t without knowing some of the expectations of being their fathers’
children.

4. “My dad did a lot of things in college that he wishes I could get better at
and I continue to just practice to do that,” Michael Coste said.
Besides having the pressure of a father that knew the sport, these
athletes also worked to do better than their fathers did and live up to their
well-known names.
“It’s kind of encouraging for me to play the sport was living up to my
dad’s expectations, my dad saw a lot of things when he was playing,” Nick
Autencio said. “He strives for me to be better at the things he learned as he got
older while I was younger and just to be better than he was at my age.”
While Molly Olsen, Tanner Autencio and Audrey McMillan have a couple
more years on the team, the rest are starting to ponder their futures, some
even with the possibility of continuing in their fathers’ footsteps all the way to
Linfield.
For four of the Grizzlies, their state playoff games were their last games
in their high school career. But their legacies will continue as they move on to
the next stage in their life, college. Taylor Vicknair said he was unsure to where
he’d be attending college, both Nick Autencio and Michael Coste both said they
were considering Linfield.