One of the country’s most respected and accomplished high school football coaches is preparing to hand over the reins of the program he has built into a national powerhouse over the course of four decades.

Chuck Kyle ’69, a longtime English teacher and Head Football and Track & Field Coach at Saint Ignatius, plans to retire following the 2022-2023 school year. The 2022 season will be his last at the helm of the Saint Ignatius Football program.

Next year will be Kyle’s 51st as a football coach at Saint Ignatius. He spent 11 years as an assistant and the Fall 2022 season will be his 40th leading the program. Under his leadership, the Wildcats have won a record 11 OHSAA State Championships, four national titles, and collected 369 wins. “Chico” was named Nike National Coach of the Year in 2001, Schutt National Coach of the Year in 2008, Ohio Associated Press Coach of the Year four different times, and was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. MaxPreps named him the sixth greatest high school football coach of all time, in 2018. What’s more, he has guided the Track & Field program for nearly 50 years, collecting two state titles along the way. Kyle also received the Magis Award, the school’s highest honor, in 2012.

Kyle began coaching at Saint Ignatius in 1972 while he was a senior at John Carroll University and started teaching here in 1973 after he earned his degree in English. He served as an assistant coach for 11 years before becoming the head football coach in 1983. In 1988, he made school history when he guided the Wildcats to their first football state championship.

The results that followed, especially in the 1990s, were unprecedented. From 1991 through 1995, Kyle guided the team to five consecutive state titles, including two national championships. It remains one of the most remarkable feats in the history of Ohio high school athletics—and is just one of many noteworthy coaching achievements. https://www.ignatius.edu/news/december-2021/legendary-teacher-and-coach-...

Believe it or not, Chico was just as respected as an educator. He was an active teacher throughout his coaching career and his class was no joke. He quoted Bill Shakespeare one hundred times for every time he quoted Bill Parcells.

He is truly a man for others and has been a fine role model for thousands of young men.