The Craig Hall Chronicles :: Taylie Nowels

Life is different these days for Mark Nowels. He needs nothing more than the silence of the house he and Kristy spent decades turning into a loving, supportive home as a reminder, three kids with two speeds – full go and extra full go – no longer providing the background soundtrack to his life.

They're out there, just not here, close by, where he was so used to having them for so long. His job was to get them to a certain point, ready to attack the world beyond the walls of the family home, but did it have to arrive so quickly, did the time have to pass by in the blink of an eye?

Life came first for Tierney, whisked her off to the University of Washington. Then it came for Tyler, escorted him to Pacific Lutheran. There was only one left, Taylie, so they circled the wagons as best they could, fought off time by spending every minute they could with No. 3, their last and youngest.

Dinners out, shopping, trips to the farmer's market. The destination didn't matter, just that they were doing it together. For as long as they could. Before this, also, came to an end and life tapped them on the shoulder and said, sorry, need this one, too.

That's why it hit so hard last month, when they dropped her off at Montana and finally had to say good-bye and turn their vehicle west toward home outside Seattle. Life would never be the same again. When they arrived home, it was truly an empty nest for the first time. And it was so, so quiet.

They had done their jobs, sending three strong, independent kids out on their own, but the better you do it, this job of parenting, the more time you invest, any sense of satisfaction that should be derived from the process and the end result is overwhelmed by the feeling of what will no longer be.

"It's quite the rollercoaster of emotions," he said on Wednesday morning, as good a time as any for a good cry, to go through a tear-streaked interview. "It's an incredible time in our lives."

Indeed. Three kids have walked out the front door but two grandchildren have arrived, with a third on the way. The cycle of life, Tierney now going down the same road herself as a parent.

Mark and Kristy have made the trek to western Montana six times in the last seven weekends, not denying their new station in life but also not quite willing or ready to fully let go of the past. Not yet.

"You think you're going to be fine with the last one, but more time was spent with Taylie in the long run than the other kids. We did a lot more together knowing it was coming to an end with the kids at home," he says.

"So we got closer and that makes it more difficult. No question that when it's the last one, it's more impactful."

You think he was going to entrust just anyone with this one, his last-born? In the end, it was her call, but that didn't mean a dad couldn't have some influence. Turns out he didn't need to exert any. She fell for the Montana soccer program, then he did as well.

"She had some great places and opportunities," Mark says about recruiting interest in his daughter, "but that coaching staff at Montana …" He pauses for the first of three times telling this quick story. Dude's like the Grinch, just the opposite, his heart two sizes too large. Family will do that.

The Nowels visited campus in the middle of winter. It was cold, snow was everywhere, but they tracked down a jersey and wanted to take a photo outside. To keep Taylie safe from slipping in her cleats, associate head coach J. Landham picked her up and carried her to safety.

What more could a father want? What better visual of a coaching staff that has your daughter's best interest in mind, at heart? That nothing was going to harm her, not if they could help it?

He tries to continue the story, has to pause. "Excuse me." Another pause. "Carried her through the snow just to get her picture taken." Another pause, this one longer. "Sorry." More silence on the other end of the phone. "We knew we had a place where they were going to take care of our daughter."

If that opened his eyes, she saw the same type of light last August, when Montana hosted Ohio State and the Nowels were in attendance and fans started coming through the gates 60 minutes out and just never stopped. In the end, 1,973 people were at South Campus Stadium for a women's soccer match.

Afterwards, the Montana players were treated not as untouchable heroes as much as approachable role models, what all the ponytailed girls who watched that evening decided they wanted to be when they grew up. The hundreds of posters that were autographed post-match proved it.

"First of all, it was seeing a community that comes out that large for women's sports. But the best part for us and for Taylie was seeing those kids," Mark says. "Seeing all these little girls come out and the players signing autographs. That really struck a chord with her. She wanted to see herself doing that."

She's in the next wave of Grizzlies to be looked up to, at least figuratively. Being 5-foot-2, which is how Mark describes her, otherwise has its challenges, the only family member to not have height on her side or in her favor.

Tierney played high-level club volleyball through high school, then called it quits, her focus on her 4.0 GPA, more driven for college and life beyond than sport.

Tyler? Okay, next level, a three-time all-American in travel baseball, dad coaching, son playing and it was perfect. Until the wear and tear became too much. He has five anchors in his shoulder, his wrist has been surgically repaired, he's had two knee surgeries.

He was destined for greatness. Then it was all over, just like that. "A lot of ambitions, highly recruited. He would have potentially done well at the Division I level but unfortunately those things happen in life."

That's who Taylie was chasing since birth, so ready to catch up that she raced right past the fairy who was handing out tokens for height, realized it too late and started grabbing whatever she could, getting handfuls of personality and unmarked chips she might stack on her shoulder for when the time came.

"I think it's super important to have that chip on your shoulder, something that helps create that energy and that work ethic," Mark says.

"We've always had that mentality as a family, that nobody can ever beat you if you outwork them, not only in sports but anything in life. Having that work ethic and that focus and that blue-collar mentality is something we've always strived to give all of our kids. Give 100 percent to everything. Always."

It's a generational thing with these Nowels, Mark's grandparents raising their own family in New Haven, Indiana, his grandma working as a teacher for five decades, his grandpa doing her a few years better, serving as a railroad engineer for 55 years. Blue-collar mentality? It was locked in.

Denny, Mark's dad, was a good enough football player that he quarterbacked at Ball State, then caught the attention of the Army's team when he was drafted during the Korean War. He opted out of more football, was sent to fight, then changed his mind, preferring the cannon of his arm to the real thing.

That's one way to instill the importance of sports, which Mark gave his life to growing up, an all-around athlete in Boise, Idaho, as boys tended to be back then, competing in football, wrestling, soccer, track, baseball. If it had a uniform and involved competition, he was up for it.

He played for a bit at the University of Washington, was recruited into the Canadian Football League, Edmonton first, then the BC Lions before his own injuries, a wife back in the States and his first child on the way put an end to those dreams.

"It was a tough time for me, separated from family, being hurt all the time. You just get tired of playing hurt all the time," he says. "It's something people don't understand about high-level sports. You're literally never 100 percent. It felt like it was the end of the road and time to hang it up."

He had met Kristy at a bank on a Saturday, she managing the weekend shift, he there for business. "For whatever reason, there was a great reaction," he says. "She had an amazing smile and was such a sweet person. And I always knew where I could find her."

He left Canada and football behind, started a real-estate brokerage and spent the next 25 years as a land developer and builder. Today, he still has the brokerage and is now a project manager for Wilcox Construction, overseeing the company's efforts on the south end of greater Seattle.

When the kids started growing and competing themselves, Mark and Kristy started a streak that never came to an end. If one of their kids was playing in something, one parent or the other would be there, oftentimes both, with the other kids in tow.

"We knew how much it meant to them and to us, and it's such a short period of time," Mark says of the years that passed by in a blur of wonderful memories, ones he'll hold on to forever.

Tierney did her thing, then Tyler, the one closest to Taylie in age so the one whose footprints were still fresh and right in front of her.

"She would play flag football, she wrestled on the select team I coached. She just had no fear. She wanted to do everything like her big brother," says Mark, getting choked up as little moments from those years come flooding back to mind.

"She saw him playing a lot and having a lot of success. That helped her want to do some of those things too."

That's the player who is at Montana now, the outside back (call her undersized at your own peril) who checked in against Gonzaga a few Sundays ago in Columbia Falls and took the Bulldogs head-on, like she was meant to be there. And why wouldn't she? Too short? Ha! She makes up for it with everything else.

"She was always a little spitfire," says Mark. "She was the only one who was kind of short in the family. You'd think that would hamper her but far from it. She was that girl who everyone talked about. There's that short girl! There she goes again! It never got in her way."

Her no-fear attitude "is just a great attribute. She is not afraid to go out there and take the challenge on. She relishes that opportunity. She is such a powerful girl who doesn't have a fear of what could happen. She lives in the moment. I love that so much about her."

She was a dynamo as a forward, first in the local rec leagues, then for the defunct Slammers, finally for Washington Premier, where she found her kind of girls, the type who wanted to play like she did. "They cared a lot more and were more serious about it," she says.

Then, a revelation, the day a coach suggested she try playing on the back line. Wait, a 5-foot-2 center back?

"She loved playing defense. She is a natural at it, I don't know why," says Mark. "Maybe her ability to read things and foresee what's coming so well. It's a real good fit for her and she just loves it."

Okay, this is the other team's top threat. She's really, really good, really, really dangerous. And she's 5-foot-10 and fast and athletic and no one's been able to stop her this season. Taylie, do your thing.

I'm on it, coach!

"Taylie would mark her the whole game and that girl would get shut down. She never gave up a single goal to a girl when she marked her," says Mark. "She would be so tight to them, she would never give them an opportunity to start or to breathe and they would get so frustrated.

"Her ability to smother and shut down like that was incredible to me. She is super competitive, super intense, very focused. She really zones in. She just loved that challenge and always took it on. For a 5-foot-2 girl to be playing center back, starting four years, be first-team all-conference says a lot."

It wasn't the prospect of playing college soccer that was her carrot to chase. She didn't even need the carrot. She had what she needed within her. She loves soccer like few others and wants to be at her best when she plays. And how could college coaches not take notice of that?

At ECNL showcases around the country, they lined the field. She saw them but their presence didn't affect her. Whether they were there or not, her mindset wasn't changing.

"I expected to be playing at my best whether someone was there watching or not. If I made a mistake, I wasn't worried if a coach saw it. I was hard on myself, so my level of play wouldn't change," she says. "C'mon, you're better than that, you shouldn't be making that mistake."

On June 15 of her junior year, when she could first be contacted, four college programs reached out. More followed as time went on.

"Playing Division I soccer was never what drove her," says Mark. "She just has a passion for the game. That's something I've always said about any athlete at a high level. For the amount of work and discipline and effort that goes into it, you have to have a real passion for the game.

"She just loves the sport and being around it and the teammates and the camaraderie."

She was playing in Florida. Montana was there. It was a few years ago, but coach Chris Citowicki knew he would need more depth at outside back, after Ava Samuelson graduated out of the program following the 2024 season.

That's a coach's job, to lead the players he currently has but also see the future, make projections and identify young talent that might be what he's looking for, to keep his roster whole, his talent stacked, his team winning.

"How do you sustain success over time? You've got to recruit beyond everything you have and try to think in the future," he says. "Who would be able to step in as a sophomore after Ava's gone? We needed someone who could come in and get some experience."

Taylie Nowels was that future. "Watched her play. Okay, she's solid, she can do the job. We will have to develop her but she could be a good player. Turns out she is way better than I thought she'd be.

"She can fly, she is good with the ball, she's clean. And she just doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. She has zero fear. We had this preconceived notion that she may take a little time to develop, but she's come in flying. I'm pretty excited about her."

The Grizzlies reached out. "At the time, I thought, oh, another school, I guess I'll talk to them," Nowels recalls. "As we got farther in it and I started talking to the coaches, I realized I really liked them as people. They fit who I was. That's when it started getting really serious."

Then Landham played gallant knight and carried this undecided recruit to safety across the dangerous snow and everything was set in motion. And here we are, another Griz freshman who is only going to get better as the level of play around her rises, as the expectations are raised.

"ECNL is good but the college game is way different. The speed of play, the expectations of working hard, how you should be practicing like you play in a game at all times. It's all business. It's a good thing," she says.

She's got one of the best outside backs in program history to watch, to study, to train under in Samuelson, who had the same role under Taylor Hansen. One day that will be Nowels who someone will be gaga about.

"It's so fun. I look up to her so much," Nowels says of Samuelson. "I probably say five times a day, I want to be like her. She's so good it's insane. She is so consistent, so calm and composed on the ball and the way she can attack. She always knows what to do in the moment."

A concussion in the Gonzaga match has kept her from getting any minutes through the season's first four matches, but her time will come. Talent will win out, a girl patiently waiting, waiting, waiting.

"One thing I've learned, if you're working really hard and you're doing all the right things, it almost always works out. You just have to know that in your heart, be patient and wait for your opportunities, and then strike when you can," says Mark.

The hope is that fate will spare this one, after her dad's football career was cut short by injury, then her brother's baseball career. Fate owes us this one, a long and fruitful career wearing a Grizzly uniform.

It's what she dreams about most frequently, she admitted this week, that injury, major, catastrophic, may be coming for her as well. It's hit so close to home that she can't escape its possibility. It visits her often, when she is most vulnerable, unable to shoo it away. It's the stuff of nightmares.

Her dad is surprised to learn this but not surprised that she carries it with her. "To be honest with you, that is always in the back of my mind. It can happen so fast and can be totally out of your control. Maybe that makes this all seem more valuable to her with how quickly it can all change."

He's done with change for now, ready to embrace what is while relishing what was all while looking forward to what is to come. He's got two grandchildren, another on the way. And his youngest is out of the house but certainly not gone.

"The next phase of life, which is exciting, and we still have lots to go with Taylie," Mark says. "We're going to enjoy every minute of it." They have to this point, to the fullest. Why change now?

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