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The Owl
Warren Central
Saying goodbye to an old friend
January 30, 2015
www.wcowlnews.com
Head track and field coach and teacher Mr. Dennis McNulty retires by khailaking staff writer
H
e was a track and cross country coach. He won several awards for teaching and coaching. He is in four different halls of fame. But in December, after 35 years, Mr. Dennis McNulty retired from teaching. He had retired from coaching in the 2012 track season. McNulty was more than a coach and teacher for his colleagues and his students. He was a friend. “Working with Dennis McNulty was a special opportunity,” Athletic Director Mr. Marques Clayton wrote in an email. “I have never worked with a coach that was more organized and his attention to details is what truly set him apart. Above all else, Coach Mac truly has a big heart and has formed a special bond with his coaches and student athletes over the years,” Clayton said that McNulty is the most successful head coach in the history of Warren Central High School. McNulty won four State Titles, multiple runner up finishes, 13 consecutive Regional championships, state coach of the year multiple times and national boys track coach of the year. He described winning awards as humbling. McNulty is also a member of four different halls of fame, the Warren Central Coaches Hall of Fame, the Warren Coaches Hall of Fame, the Indiana Association of Track Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame and the UIndy Athletics Hall of Fame. “As a coach it has been nothing but a joy,” McNulty said. “I have had great kids and I have had great assistant coaches throughout the years, so I have been very fortunate as a coach. We have won quite a few competitions and meets. It has been fun.” Aside from coaching McNulty was also a nominee for the President’s Award for Excellent Science Teaching. He was Teacher of the Year in 2000 and the following year he was a semifinalist for State Teacher of the Year. “Warren Central High School is the most special place on earth to be an educator,” McNulty said. “I have learned when I was going through my teaching classes that you teach kids first and you teach your subject second.” McNulty graduated from Greenwood High School in 1972, received his BA in 1977 from Indiana Central, and his MA from Indiana University in 1982. Before McNulty started working at Warren in 1987, he taught and coached at Clarksville High School, Noblesville High School and Maconaquah High School. He said it had always been a dream to coach at Warren.
As an athlete, McNulty ran in three NCAA College Division Cross Country National Championships and was the top Indiana finisher at the Boston Marathon in 1975. He was a track and field official for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games and on the stadium announcing staff during Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic games. Saying goodbye to Warren has not been easy for McNulty. He will not only miss his students, he will also miss the teachers. “I have always been kids first, everything else second and I always will be til the day I die, but there are so many special teachers here,” McNulty said. “I could tell you story after story that kids do not have any idea of what a teacher did. Kids talk about other teachers and they do not know that the same teacher went out and bought clothes for a student at Warren or paid an electric bill for a family. I’m going to miss the people I work with.” Having coached together for over 20 years, English teacher Mr. Steve Kent and McNulty became good friends. Kent even officiated and McNulty’s recent wedding. They have traveled together with and without their wives. Kent said it was bittersweet seeing McNulty retire. Although he is happy that his friend is moving on, Kent is not ready to leave and will miss seeing McNulty every day at school. “It is very different, psychologically, when I come in the building and he is not here,” Kent said. “He is a fun person to be with. I think one of the most important characteristics that a friend needs to have is just to be fun to be with. There is not much more you can say better than that. He is extremely loyal. He was someone who I could share anything with. I could tell him anything.” With McNulty retired, a few changes were made. Coach Jayson West took McNulty’s track coaching position when he retired from track after the 2012 season. Science teacher Mr. George Carley took over McNulty’s science classes. Ms. Georgia Watson is now occupying McNulty’s old classroom in room E203. “Above all the things making him a good coach and teacher is that he loved kids,” Kent said. “He loved working with kids, he loved teaching with kids. He always said he didn’t teach science, he taught kids. His love for the job was so important to him. He is a very caring, kind and compassionate person. He is that way to everyone. I never saw Mr. McNulty be rude or unkind to anyone, both student and faculty. That kind of person is a rare person to find. That is probably what I admire the most about him.”
MCNULTY GETS THE boys cross country team organized for competition. In February of 2006, McNulty was inducted into the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame. Photo used in the 1991 yearbook
MCNULTY PERFORMS A motion experiment for his physics class. McNulty was a nominee for the President’s Award for Excellent Science Teaching. Photo used in the 1991 yearbook
McNulty Facts He was a member of the coaching staff for an International Sports Exchange Trip to China in 1997. McNulty announced the International Association of Athletics Federations Grand Prix in Toronto, Canada. He was a past president of Indiana USATF in 1987 . He served as a president of the State Track Coaches Association.