By Grant Pepper
Ada head football coach Bob Olwin told the Icon on Monday night that he will be retiring from coaching, following an illustrious 39-year career that ended with five years in Ada. He will be retiring from teaching physical education at the end of the school year as well.
Ada High School posted a job opening for the head varsity football coaching position on the OHSAA’s website on Monday.
Olwin said that he had “been tossing the idea around for a few years,” citing his desire to spend more time taking care of his parents and tending to his own health. Olwin lives in Defiance, an hour-plus drive from Ada, and said that the commute had been wearing on him as well.
“I’m just a little tired, I need to take some time off and see where that leads me,” Olwin, 61, said on Monday. “The lifestyle I’m running isn’t helping my health, either.”
“I just thought it was time to give up some things and move on to a different spot in my life.”
Olwin has coached football since he graduated from Bluffton College in 1979. He’s coached nine different Ohio high school football teams and was the offensive coordinator at Tiffin University from 1989-91. In his 39-year career, he spent 34 years as a head coach. He also taught for 37 of those years.
Olwin finished his coaching career with 212 wins, placing him unofficially among the top 50 winningest coaches in Ohio high school football history, according to OHSAA record books.
The Bulldogs were 34-22 under Olwin’s guidance, as they posted a 7-4 record in his final year (third in the NWC). In 2013, Olwin’s first year at the helm, Ada clinched a share of the NWC title and advanced to the regional final of the OHSAA playoffs.
Olwin said that it won’t be easy walking away from the game that has consumed the majority of his life.
“It’s tough,” Olwin said. “Football has been my whole life and everything revolved around the football calendar for me.”
Olwin said that while he will miss the preparation and strategy aspects of the game, what he will miss most will be seeing his players develop.
“Just being around the kids and seeing them grow from either junior high or freshman level to being young men... that’s always a special part of coaching,” Olwin said.
Olwin told the team last Monday that he would be retiring. He said that he does not know which direction the school might go when choosing a new coach.
Right out of college, Olwin became the head coach at Antwerp High School in 1979. After coaching there for four years, he went to Mechanicsburg. He turned a 1-9 program into a 9-1 program in his three years there and was named league ‘Coach of the Year.’
Olwin then went to Tiffin Calvert from 1985-89, where he was named Midland Athletic League ‘Coach of the Year.’ He was the offensive coordinator at Tiffin University after that, and then stepped back into the high school arena in 1991 when he took over at Ridgedale High School. He then coached at Arlington before taking the head position at Sherwood Fairview, where he would coach from 1995-2008, winning seven league titles and making five playoff appearances.
He then coached at MAC-power Versailles from 2008-12, where he was named Southwest District Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2011, then at Lake High School in Millbury before taking the Ada position five years ago.
Olwin expressed gratitude to all the communities who have supported him and his teams over the years.
“I think any time you move around and coach in all the communities that brought you in, you make friendships in those communities and you coach a lot of different kids throughout the years,” Olwin said. “I’ve got a lot of fond memories from all the places, and a lot of good friends out of it. We’ve had some special players over the years and it’s pretty fun to sit back and think about all the big plays, the big games, things like that.”
For now, Olwin said that he will enjoy spending time with his grandkids. He said that he might substitute teach and find a way to stay involved with coaching eventually, but that he hasn’t thought about it too much yet.
Potential candidates for the Ada head coaching job will have until March 30 to submit their resumes to athletic director Ken Jochims, the posting on the OHSAA’s website says.
Under Olwin, Ada ran the most potent passing offense in the Northwest Conference. The Bulldogs averaged 260 passing yards per game last season, while also giving up the fewest points per game of any team in the conference. Olwin led Ada to four playoff appearances in his five years, going 2-4 in postseason play.
Along with Olwin, the Bulldogs will have several big shoes to fill on the gridiron next fall. 12 seniors, including four-year playmakers like Seth Conley, Aaron Everhart, Chase Sumner and Jakob Hoschak, will have graduated.
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