Bob Mitcheltree will be absent from Wilmington sideline for first time in 36 years tonight

Bob Mitcheltree has a sign in the “man cave” in his New Wilmington home that, for him, says it all.

“You don’t quit coaching when you get old, you get old when you quit coaching.”

Mitcheltree finally had to wave the white flag on a 41-year high school football coaching career, the last 36 of those at Wilmington High.

“I just ran out gas,” he said. “Coaching two sports for four decades takes a lot out of you. I’ve had some health issues that have affected my energy level, plus the fact that both of those sports are pretty much year-round commitments. It got to a point that I had to make a choice.”

So it will be a big change for Wilmington players and fans alike when the Greyhounds open their season tonight at home against Grove City — and “Mitch” isn’t on the sideline.

“The first day of camp, it seemed strange that I wasn’t getting up at 7 in the morning and heading to camp,” he said. “I only live a couple of blocks from the school and on Friday nights when I hear the band playing, it will be even stranger not being on the sideline.”

Mitcheltree said he plans to attend some games, but his work as pitching and catching coach of the Slippery Rock University baseball team and time with his grandson, Chase, who is 7, will keep him busy.

Mitcheltree, himself a one-time football star at Wilmington High, began his coaching career 41 years ago as an assistant at Lakeview High in Stoneboro.

“My real inspiration was Joe Fusco, my high school coach at Wilmington (and future Westminster College coach). We won 24 straight games before I graduated (in 1966). I was the first wide receiver in Wilmington history and ended up coaching that position for 41 years. Joe helped me get that my first teaching and coaching job, he played a big role in my decision to become both a teacher and a coach.”

Mitcheltree joined the Wilmington staff in 1976 under Dan Sherwin and spent the next 35 coaching under Terry Verrelli. With Verrelli and Mitcheltree on the sideline, the Greyhounds won one state title, one state runner-up, two WPIAL championships, nine District 10 championships, four District 10 runner-up titles and played in the PIAA western final six times.

“It was a great ride,” he said. “I was with Terry when he won his first game, when he won his 100th game and when he won his 200th game. He is at 282 right now, so I almost made it to his 300th.

“I wanted to make it to 50 years in each sport, but that’s not going to happen now. But I’m still on target to get it done in baseball.”

Mitcheltree retired from his sixth-grade social studies teaching position at Wilmington in 2009.

He lists four highlights in his high school football coaching career:

•Winning back to back WPIAL championships at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh in 1987 and ‘88.

•A convincing win in what was billed as the “game of the decade” when Wilmington played its regular-season finale in Sharon in 1996, his eldest son T.D.’s senior year. Both teams came into the game 8-0 and Wilmington won 26-7.

“Sharon was ranked No. 1 in the state and we were ranked No. 4. Nobody had scored on us. Whoever lost didn’t go to the playoffs. The atmosphere in the stadium was like nothing I had ever seen,” he said.

•Wilmington’s win over Youngstown Ursuline at Youngstown State University in 1999.

“They were loaded and we beat them,” he said. “They called us a bunch of farmers. My (youngest) son Ryan was a fullback on that team. It was definitely an enjoyable win.”

•The state championship game win against West Catholic in 2008. Wilmington prevailed in double overtime.

“State champions,” he said. “You know when it happens how very fortunate you are to experience something like that.”

Mitcheltree will be anything but idle now that his football coaching career is over.

He is in his 40th year of coaching baseball, the past 13 at Slippery Rock University. He also served as head baseball coach at Wilmington and led the Greyhounds to WPIAL and PIAA championships in 1981.

He also is helping coach the youth baseball team that Chase, T.D.’s son, plays on.

“Chase plays summer and fall baseball, they have a doubleheader every Saturday in the fall, so that was making it tough with coaching football. And we have intrasquad games on Sundays at Slippery Rock. So my plate is full even without football.”

He credits his wife, Cindy, for making the two-sport coaching work for so many years,

“Cindy is a Hall of Famer,” he said. “She was behind the scenes all these years, but was with me every step of the way.

“If she ever would have said no, you need to be home more, I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off. But she never did.”

As for that plaque that speaks of getting old when you quit coaching? He had one made for late major league manager Chuck Tanner of New Castle and Tanner suggested they send one to late Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

“I got another one made and Chuck gave it to Joe’s son Mark and Mark took it to him,” Mitcheltree said. “I often wondered if Joe put it up in his office.”

Mitcheltree said what he will miss most about coaching football is the relationships.

“It’s the camaraderie you build up with the coaches and players that I will always treasure,” he said. “To me the greatest feeling is running across a kid you coached 30 or 40 years ago and he still calls you coach. That makes you feel like maybe you did something right.”

(Email: kcubbal@ncnewsonline.com)