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<\/p>\nHis coaching tree, whether playing for, coaching with, or coaching against, reads like a Who\u2019s Who of local coaching greats.<\/p>\n
A partial list includes: played football for George Strager and Andy Urbanic; played college tennis at West Liberty for Edgar Martin; coached football with Strager, Jim Thomas and former Wheeling Ironmen Buddy Pfaadt; coached basketball with Sam Andy; coached track with Sam Morgan; and coached against Paul Billiard, Jay Circosta, Dave Bruney and Reno Saccoccia.<\/p>\n
Entering into his 53rd year of coaching football, Wheeling Central Catholic High School football Head Coach Mike Young has worked around some of the area\u2019s greats in a multitude of sports. With his dedication and performance, Young can add his name onto the list of all-time greats in Ohio Valley coaching history. Young, who recently turned 75, is the latest focus of the feature series Local Legends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew when I was a sophomore in high school (at Wheeling Central Catholic) I wanted to be a teacher and a coach because of the impact my teachers and coaches had on me,\u201d Young said. \u201cFor me to be affiliated and in the same sentence with these guys who came before me and were true legends. . . for me to be in that conversation is an honor for me because I had such respect for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey taught me that if you treat people right and you give everything you have. . . if you want your kids to play with passion, you coach with passion; if you want your kids to have passion for one another you show passion. And whether it\u2019s in the classroom, on the field, on the court, wherever it is. It\u2019s a unified feeling. I just feel honored, I feel blessed, and I can\u2019t thank all the people in my life enough for what they\u2019ve given me. I\u2019m there where I am because of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young, the second of nine children born to Jack and Rosalie Dailer Young, attended Wheeling Central Catholic and was graduated in 1967. While there, he played his freshman year of football for Strager, then played for Andy Urbanic. He also played basketball and tennis for the Maroon Knights.<\/p>\n
After graduation, Young attended West Liberty State College; he wasn\u2019t done playing for a coaching great either. A four-year letterman for the Hilltoppers in tennis, Young competed for the team led by coaching legend Edgar Martin, himself an outstanding football, basketball and tennis athlete. But Young didn\u2019t just compete, he excelled; and he blazed a path as an athletic trainer at the school. He was inducted into the West Liberty Hall of Fame in 2012 after graduating in 1971.<\/p>\n
According to the West Liberty Hall of Fame web posting: A four-year letterman on Coach Edgar Martin\u2019s West Liberty tennis team from 1967-71, Mike Young also helped lay the foundation for WL\u2019s highly-regarded athletic training program before embarking on a remarkable high school coaching career. During his time on the hilltop, the Wheeling Central Catholic High School graduate served as athletic trainer for all sports in the Student Trainer program initiated by Martin, Bob Roe and Dr. Al Blatnik.<\/p>\n
Young was \u201cthe first athletic trainer in history at West Liberty while I was a student,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He took his first full-time job in the 1971-72 school year, serving as a special education teacher at Lincoln School in Wheeling for Ohio County. That was his day job. In the evenings, he was an assistant football coach for Pfaadt, an assistant basketball coach for Andy, and an assistant track coach for Morgan at Wheeling High School.<\/p>\n
He left after that year to begin what turned into a 35-year career teaching special education at St. Clairsville High School. His initial coaching duties included as an assistant football coach for familiar name George Strager and as tennis coach. He coached for Strager for 16 years before becoming his successor as head coach from 1988-97, and was a two-time District Football Coach of the Year selection, compiling a 52-41 record with six ECOL crowns and two OVAC championships. Young also led St. Clairsville to the OVAC tennis titles in 1983-84.<\/p>\n
Oh, by the way, he was an assistant basketball coach who took over the head coaching job for two years. He became the head football and head basketball coach for the Red Devils.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had gone 8-2 and made the playoffs in football and then we went 9-1 and didn\u2019t make it but we won back-to-back OVAC football championships at St. Clairsville. After we went 9-1 the basketball coach resigned. . . I was the assistant basketball coach at St. Clairsville. . . and the superintendent came down to football practice and said, \u2018Hey, I need you to apply for the head basketball job.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I don\u2019t really want it.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Well I need you to because we don\u2019t really want the other guys that applied and you\u2019re here as a teacher and we don\u2019t have any teaching openings.\u2019 So for two years I was the head football and head basketball coach both at St. Clairsville,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty years prior to that was the last time St. Clairsville won the sectionals and went to the districts. My first year as the head coach we won sectionals, went to the districts. We beat Bellaire at St. John\u2019s Arena with Joey Galloway to win the sectional. We went out to Muskingum College to play Tri-Valley and upset them and was headed to the finals in the districts to play Steubenville. That was two long years of me being head (basketball) coach but it kept me out of trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot too many people have been head football and head basketball coach at the same time in high school in those days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young returned to his alma mater for the 1997 season as an assistant coach on Jim Thomas\u2019 staff until taking the head coach position in 2005. In his 17 years as head coach at Wheeling Central, Young has compiled a 175-50 record pushing his career total to 227-91. He has won eight state titles: 2005-07, 2010-11, and 2017-19; and three OVAC titles: 2006-07 and 2022.<\/p>\n
In July 2023, Young coached in his third OVAC All-Star Game representing West Virginia. He is an undefeated 3-0 winning in 1991 for Ohio and 2013 and 2023 for West Virginia. Only Dave Bruney has a better OVAC All-Star Game record at 4-0 according to Young.<\/p>\n
The awards appropriately have accumulated as well. They began in 1960 when the Young family was recognized as Catholic Family of the Year in West Virginia by the diocese, and they continued through his playing and coaching years. He has won the 2007 Dapper Dan Man of the Year, the 2017 OVAC Coach of the Year, and the 2018 West Virginia Coach of the Year. In addition to the WL HOF, Young is a member of the HOF at his current school and alma mater Wheeling Central.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How has he been able to succeed across so many different sports? Was he different in each arena?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou carry the same philosophy in all sports I think. I think that\u2019s the key to success. You build a faith and a trust in the kids and they\u2019ll play hard for you. It\u2019s not all about the X\u2019s and O\u2019s, it\u2019s about the Johnnies and Joes that you put out there. And they play with heart and intensity they make you look like a good coach,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve found that kids wanted you to care about them. They knew I cared about them and they played hard. It was always a good trust, comfort zone for them and me and it was always a positive thing. I can tell you too that it wasn\u2019t me, it was the people in and around me. That\u2019s been the key to the success here at Central. It\u2019s not me, it\u2019s the people in and around me. The parents, administration, the assistant coaches, the teachers; it\u2019s a unified project. I attribute any success I have (to that support).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was able to coach football and basketball, head coach, both at the same time, it\u2019s because I had the support.\u201d<\/p>\n
His other, and most important team, involved in his success is his \u2018family team.\u2019 Young calls his wife Carol his inspiration to \u201cexcel, achieve and reach plateaus of championship levels.\u201d And she is always there in support. \u201cI owe so very much to her and my children. They are my rocks of foundations to move mountains. I am so blessed because of my championship family!\u201d<\/p>\n
So, as a blossom on the tree of Ohio Valley coaching greats, what has Young found to key the massive amount of success? To bloom on the field, on the basketball court, on the tennis court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed. I\u2019ve been very fortunate to be around wonderful people: coaches, teachers, everybody,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing is faith and trust in relationships. I think that\u2019s in families, that\u2019s in business, that\u2019s in teams. Faith and trust is so important because where our society is today. You hear, you see a lot of negativity, but if you have positivity within the family, the business, the team, then you build confidence and you build success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article compliments of Howard Karnell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His coaching tree, whether playing for, coaching with, or coaching against, reads like a Who\u2019s Who of local coaching greats. A partial list includes: played football for George Strager and Andy Urbanic; played college tennis at West Liberty for Edgar Martin; coached football with Strager, Jim Thomas and former Wheeling Ironmen Buddy Pfaadt; coached basketball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-high-school"],"yoast_head":"\n