Naperville North coach McKeon to retire
Ending months of speculation, Larry McKeon made it official.
The hall of fame Naperville North football coach will retire at the end of the season.
"The time's right for me," he said. "I've lived my life through football at Naperville North, but it's time for someone else to have their time. I've had a good run."
A good run? Talk about an understatement.
In 27 seasons at the helm, heading into Friday's game against West Chicago McKeon has guided the Huskies to a 230-71 record and playoff berths in 22 of the last 23 seasons. McKeon earned 30 wins in five seasons at Plainfield High School before he came to Naperville North in 1983 and coached the Huskies to their first playoff appearance in 1986.
Naperville North has reached three state title games with McKeon, winning the 1992 Class 6A championship with a 21-11 win over Loyola. Two years later the Huskies lost to Homewood-Flossmoor in the 6A final, and in 2007 they beat Glenbard North 46-19 to claim the 8A championship.
McKeon filed paperwork four years ago with District 203 to retire as a teacher at the end of this school year, but he said he didn't want to shut the door on coming back as the head football coach until he knew the decision was a correct one.
Convinced the timing was finally right, McKeon made his retirement announcement at a team function Thursday night.
"I just wanted to give myself every moment I could to make sure it was the right decision," he said. "It's tough to step away from the younger players, but it's time to step aside. There's always going to be kids you're going to want to coach next year."
Huskies athletic director Doug Smith said he'll wait until after the season to sit down with Naperville North principal Kevin Pobst and plot out a timetable for the hiring process. Smith acknowledged the huge shoes he'll need to fill.
"His record speaks for itself," Smith said of McKeon. "But more than the wins and the titles, he was a quality leader to all the players he coached through the years."
McKeon, a standout player at Joliet Catholic and the University of Illinois, began his coaching career at Joliet Catholic as an assistant under legendary coach Gordie Gillespie. Included among the hundreds of talented players he's coached at Naperville North is a trio of NFL players - Chris Brown, Justin McCareins and Glenn Earl - in addition to his son, Corey, who went on to play linebacker at Nebraska.
As for coaching in the future, McKeon definitively said that's not in the cards. After close to four decades of coaching, he needs a break.
Looking at his achievements, McKeon's certainly earned it.
"I'm done. I'm retired," he said. "I want to be able to go to some football games that I'm not coaching. I want to travel. I've got a son in Omaha, a daughter in Los Angeles. I want to fish, and travel, and ride my motorcycle, and golf.
"There are a lot of things beyond football that I'd like to do," he added. "Now I'm going to have the opportunity to do all those things."