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O'Leary hired as Triton's head football coach

Wednesday, May, 14 By Dan Guttenplan
Sports editor

Triton athletic director David Dempsey brought closure to the uncertainty surrounding the school's football coaching vacancy yesterday by naming Jim O'Leary as head coach for the 2008 season.

O'Leary, a 41-year-old Salem (Mass.) High alumnus, previously served as an assistant at Lynnfield High (1989-1996) and Salem High (1997-2000). He also served as a junior varsity basketball coach at Danvers High from 1997 to 2000. He has no head coaching experience at the high school level and has not been a member of a high school staff since 2000.

"Football has always come easy to me," O'Leary said yesterday. "I've always stayed connected to the game. I can't wait to get started. The layoff shouldn't be a problem. I've always kept a play-book. I updated it even when I was away from the game the last couple years."

O'Leary replaces Triton alumnus Shawn McElligott, who logged a 12-21 record in three years as head coach. Following a 1-10 season last fall, Dempsey, per Triton school policy, advertised the position as an opening in The Daily News and on the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Web site. After an initial interview with Triton's hiring committee, which included two athletes, one parent, an administrator and a member of the school staff, Dempsey informed McElligott that he was not a finalist for the position.

O'Leary started his football career at Salem High, where he set school records for single-season and career rushing yards for a quarterback before graduating in 1984. He then accepted a full athletic scholarship at Northeastern University. The four-year starter still holds the single-season rushing record for a quarterback at Northeastern.

Dempsey said yesterday O'Leary impressed the Triton hiring panel, of which he is not a member, with a demonstration of his ability to teach the game. As part of each candidate's interview, the Triton hiring panel asked the interviewee to sketch a base offense on a dry-erase board and explain the scheme as if he was addressing incoming freshmen.

"His understanding of the game itself was the biggest factor," Dempsey said. "The way he presented his philosophy through that exercise impressed the committee. It included a few novices to the sport of football, and he was able to show his teaching skills."

O'Leary's hire finalizes the third coaching change at Triton since Dempsey's hire last July 1. The turnover may stem from an initial meeting between Dempsey and Triton Superintendent Sandra Halloran in which the first-year athletic director wanted clarification on a rule in the Triton teacher's contract that stated all coaching positions must be advertised as vacancies on a yearly basis. Previous athletic directors at Triton had only advertised positions when the incumbent coach did not plan on returning. Halloran advised Dempsey to advertise all positions. As of this year, incumbent coaches are forced to re-interview when other candidates apply.

O'Leary, who owns his own pizzeria in Amesbury, saw the position advertised on the MIAA Web site. The father of three most recently coached his eldest son's third- and fourth-grade Amesbury football team.

"I've always wanted to (coach high school football)," O'Leary said. "I was in the Amesbury area. I'd been looking around, and I saw the opening."

In both previous instances of coaching changes at Triton during this school year, the new hire was a member of the Triton faculty, replacing a coach who is not employed in the district. O'Leary applied for certification with the Department of Education last week in hopes of landing a teaching position at Triton this fall.

"He's looking to become a part of the staff at the earliest possibility," Dempsey said. "That was a part of this."

Dempsey and O'Leary have both served as assistants under Lynnfield football coach Bill Adams, who retired from coaching after last season. Their stints at Lynnfield did not overlap, as Dempsey did not arrive at Lynnfield until 2004 | eight years after O'Leary's final season at the school. Still, Adams remembers referencing tales of O'Leary in conversations with Dempsey, who served as Adams' defensive coordinator.

"I'm sure I spoke with Dave about Jim in passing," Adams said. "All football coaches like to reminisce. I didn't have direct contact in the last few weeks as far as a reference or anything. But Dave and I would always be the last two to leave the locker room. We had many philosophical discussions about how to coach, how to run a meeting, how to get your assistants to pull together."

Adams remembers sharing a story with Dempsey about one of O'Leary's finest coaching moments at Lynnfield. O'Leary, then an offensive assistant for Adams, devised a scheme to shut down a high-powered North Andover offense in the mid-1990s.

"Jim was an offensive assistant. But for that game, he came in with the most sound defensive information," Adams said. "We beat them and held them to less than 50 yards rushing. We had a nice team, but North Andover was beating everyone with a running option offense. I probably shared a story like that with Dave."

Dempsey's memories of O'Leary are limited to his playing days.

"When I was at Lynnfield, he was the quarterback at Salem," Dempsey said. "My first year as head coach, he rushed and passed for 315 yards of total offense. The next year, he totalled 400. That's my only previous acquaintance with Jim."

As a player, O'Leary orchestrated a triple-stack offense at Salem before executing the wishbone at Northeastern. He plans to run a spread offense at Triton.

"I want to express to my team the style of play I always loved as a player," O'Leary said. "It's a hard-nose, never-give-up style. I want to score as fast as I can in terms of offense. It's going to be wide-open. I'm going to use every player I can to help the team win. I need to get acquainted at Triton to see what's left for me next year."