Teachers balance department chair, head coachtasks

By EDDIE CARIFIO |ecarifio@shawmedia.com

Scheduling. Planning. Choosing the best personnelfor the best position. Selecting and purchasing equipment.

The world of high school coaching has alot in common with being adepartment head, and ahandful of area coaches take on the extraresponsibilities of both tasks.

“I don’tthinkpeoplegenerally knowhow much goes into beingaheadcoach,” saidSycamore baseball coach and math department chairman Jason Cavanaugh, who has held both duties for almost 25 years. “I think people think they know because they coach their kids’ travel team. So they think that’s the same thing. But I’messentially in charge of 60 kids, allthe uniforms,six assistant coaches, fundraising, communicating scores with newspapers and MaxPrepsand IHSA andpitchcounts and umpireratings, and Idon’t think that people have agood grip of what it takes.”

And when Joe Ryan, the Sycamore head football coach and physical education department head, lists the responsibilities of being in charge of adepartment, the direct correlation between the two, as Ryan put it, becomes apparent.

“A lotofmyduties is making sure we have the equipment that we need to make sure we can teach effectively,” said Ryan, who has been department chair of the PE department for about 15 years and also has served as the Spartans’ head football coach since 2004. “I also help fit our teachers in the best possible spots so they can be most effective as teachers. We have alot of different options. It’s not just general PE. We have dance, we have mind-body, we have weight training. There’s alot of options and differentplacespeople fitbetterthantheywould in other spots.”

Another element both positions haveincommon is the amount of time that goes into them. Cavanaugh said duringbaseballseason especially he ends up working on Sundays just for planning purposes.

Ryan said his co-chair of the PE department up until 2017, Maura Moulton,was ahugeresource in helping with planningeven aftershe retired.Ryan said she left behind acalendar detailing month-bymonth what gets done when, ahugeresource he still occasionally consults today.

MarkMeyer, golf coach at Kaneland for 17 years and in his third year as the high school’s social studies chairman, said he’s got asecret weaponwhen it comes to his time management. His department has four otherheadvarsity coaches –BrianAversa (baseball),Scott Parillo(boys and girls soccer), Kelsey Flanagan (girls basketball) and SarahRay (boys bowling).

“It helps have some peace of mind that they understand Imight not be available all hours or after school,” Meyer said. “They understand that very well, the commitmentthat comes with being ahead coach. Ithinkthat really helps. There’s alot of that type of supportive talk.When we know someone is going to be out or gone after school or an entire week with matchesortournaments, we knowthat maybe we need to pick up the slack here or there for them.

That’s something that kind of comes with the territoryofbeing in our department becausewehave so many head coaches.”

Meyer said he’s lucky to be in such aone-of-a-kind situation.

“I think that may be pretty typical of PE departments, but it’s definitely unique for asocial studies department,” Meyer said. “It’simpressive the work our teachersdotobeleaders in the classroom and leaders of their sports programs. They do such an awesome job.”

Whether finding what teachers fit what subject or aplace indoors for his team to practice as snowy weather pushes into April and keeps fields unplayable, Cavanaugh said it’s about making things fit in a way that is productive for everyone involved.

“It does become agiant jigsaw puzzle, especially when you combine the fact I’mmaking practice schedules for threedifferent baseball teams,” Cavanaugh said. “We’re trying to find practice space for all of them as Isit here on March 31 looking at snow.”