In a sign of the times, Park Ridge High School’s head football coach, Jim Cleary, was dismissed from his position after just one season when he encouraged his players to engage in a weightlifting program during the off-season.
Striving to improve as an athlete is a strategy Cleary believes is essential for building team strength and enhancing performance. Naturally.
He shared with NJ Advance Media that the administration disagreed with his approach, claiming it was too demanding for a small school like Park Ridge, which has an enrollment of just over 500 students.
Cleary insists he made his expectations clear during the interview process for the job, emphasizing the necessity of off-season conditioning to prepare for the rigors of the football season.
But the parents, allegedly, were not as thrilled about working towards athletic excellence as the head coach was.
Coach Fired For Asking Players To Work Out
Coach Jim Cleary believes he was fired after parents complained about their kids being asked to work out in the offseason. And he was stunned by the reaction.
“I was in utter shock,” Cleary said. “I mean I don’t believe anything I did was a fireable offense. I was just asking, we had a disagreement on the level of commitment from the players who are not involved in a winter sport.”
He claims administrators at the school knew about the program but didn’t think he should be pressuring the kids to try and get better.
“We were discussing offseason weightlifting programs, and I laid out in the interview process that I expect all the boys who are not doing a winter sport to work out,” Cleary said.
“We put together a weightlifting program for them. I’m working with a strength and conditioning coach, and pretty much the administration said that they did not want me to be pressuring the boys to work out.”
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Was There A Different Reason?
According to the report, administrators indicated parents had complained that coach Cleary wasn’t fired solely because he asked their kids to work out. It’s because he was “unapproachable.”
“I’m extremely disappointed that I’m no longer the head football coach at Park Ridge,” he said. “I loved the kids. I loved the town. I thought we were building something really, really good there.”
Off-season training is crucial for player development, not just in terms of physical fitness but also in discipline, teamwork, and resilience. Weightlifting, when properly supervised, can prevent injuries by strengthening muscles and joints.
Park Ridge football players could have learned that lesson. Instead, they learned that if they don’t want to achieve more in life, they can just have mommy and daddy complain on their behalf.
Park Ridge went 4-4-1 in Cleary’s only season on the sidelines. They finished tied for second in the NJIC’s Patriot Division and made it to the playoffs.
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