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O'Leary resigns as Craig football coach

JANESVILLE — Football always has been on Bill O’Leary’s mind.

“Never a day has gone by that I didn’t think about football,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary has decided it’s time to change his thinking.

Janesville Craig High School’s head football coach and special education teacher submitted his letter of retirement on Wednesday. The 56-year-old O’Leary will conclude a 35-year teaching career in the Janesville school system next June.

O’Leary compiled a 44-44 record through nine seasons as Craig’s head coach. He guided the Cougars to seven straight WIAA playoff appearances.

The Cougars finished 5-5 this past season. O’Leary’s best seasons were 2006 and 2002, when the Cougars were 6-2 in Big Eight and 7-3 overall each time.

Like all coaches, O’Leary wanted to win more games.

“It bothers me, but my life doesn’t revolve around it,” O’Leary said. “But losing on the last play to (Madison) Memorial (this season) drives me nuts.’’

O’Leary said he loves coaching the Cougars, but his family comes first.

“I’m missing my children’s events,’’ he said.

O’Leary, a Milton resident, has three children—Mary Kate, a sophomore at Milton High School; Elizabeth, an eighth-grader at Milton Middle School; and Patrick, a fifth-grader.

“Next year, I’ll have a freshman involved in two sports alone,” O’Leary said. “With football every day, I miss a lot of what’s going on in their lives.’’

O’Leary decided to retire now in order to give Craig ample time to find a replacement.

“The trouble is, the longer we don’t have somebody in the weight room to run the program, the farther away we are going to get,” said O’Leary, who said he would continue to work with the players until a new coach is found.

O’Leary took over the school’s football post from Dan Thorpe in 2000. He joined former head coach Ron Ganong’s staff as an assistant in 1990.

O’Leary ties Ganong, who was coach from 1986-94, for the second-longest tenure as head football coach at Craig with nine years. Overall, Craig has had only five head football coach, starting with E. Keith French for one season (1867).

Bob Suter, Craig’s current head boys basketball coach, held the head football job the longest—18 years, from 1968 to 1985. Thorpe coached Craig for five seasons, 1995-99.

O’Leary has taught at Craig for 17 years after coming from Edison Middle School, where he coached three sports. O’Leary is a Milton High and UW-Whitewater graduate.

“I liked the seventh- and eighth-graders, but I wanted to be with the ninth-graders,” O’Leary said.

After serving as an assistant from 1987, O’Leary became Craig’s varsity wrestling coach in 1990 and resigned in 2003, posting a 119-41 career dual-meet record.

O’Leary said he will not miss the daily grind spent tending to football during the season, but he will miss coaching the players.

“Coaching the kids in the program was always positive,” O’Leary said. “I coached kids that are doctors, and I have coached kids that you don’t remember much, but went on to do positive things.’’