Schutt Sports National High School Coach of the Year
Pictures Perfect
Kelly Donohoe\'s snapshots of success
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To find out something about Kelly Donohoe, the coach, all one
needs to do is examine his record the past four years at Blue Springs
High School.
Under Donohoe’s direction, the Wildcats have gone 45-5 with two perfect
seasons and a pair of Class 6 state championships.
To find out about Kelly Donohoe, the man, spend an afternoon at his fashionable
Eastern Jackson County home and watch him interact with his wife Jennifer, his
high school sweetheart from Harrisonville, Mo., and his two children, 4-year-old
Chase and 8-year-old Taylor.
Nothing in the Donohoe household would indicate that the former No. 2 passer
in the history of the University of Kansas was a successful football coach.
All his trophies and plaques are placed in boxes in a bedroom closet. Walking
downstairs, there are a variety of footballs, but all the markings which indicate
that Donohoe was a Coach of the Week, are turned towards the wall.
Yet, when the visitor reaches the basement, there on the Wall of Honor, are Polaroid
snapshots of every senior he’s coached at Blue Springs.
Believe me,” Donohoe said, “a coach is only as good as his players
and his coaching staff. I believe that a head coach is a front man and a PR man.
If you don’t have the players and the coaches, and the support of your
administration, you don’t have anything.”
Blue Springs High School activities director Tim Crone, a former Wildcat defensive
coordinator and head coach, calls Donohoe, “The real deal.
“I know that someday Kelly is going to go to face new challenges somewhere
and I’m all for that,” Crone said, grinning. “I just told him
to do it a year after I retire.”
There isn’t an honor that Donohoe hasn’t won on a state-wide or regional
basis, but recently he received one of the top prep coaching honors in the country.
Following last season’s perfect 13-0 march to the school’s second
state title in the past four years, Donohoe received the Schutt Sports National
High School Coach of the Year award presented by American Football Monthly.
Donohoe seemed stunned by the announcement.
“It’s like I have said so many times before,” said Donohoe,
a three-time winner of The Examiner’s Coach of the Year award, “you
have to get it done on the field. I’ve never thrown a pass or made a tackle
out there. This is a credit to my staff and our players. It’s really a
great honor.”
Perhaps the gold-plated football helmet and mammoth trophy will find a place
of honor in the Donohoe family room, next to the photos of the players – past
and present – who made it all possible.”
Former Harrisonville High School coach John Culp will never forget the first
time he saw Kelly Donohoe.
“Kelly dated the cutest cheerleader, threw the best pass, was a team leader – you
name it, he did it,” Culp said, “and we all loved being around the
guy. Back then I knew he was going to be something special. I hoped he’d
go into coaching because I knew he’d be a great one.”
The former assistant coach remembers giving Donohoe a key to the Harrisonville
gym.
“He’d be in there throwing pass after pass to this cute little cheerleader,” Culp
said, chuckling. “She’d catch those passes and throw them back to
him, and he’d throw her some more.”
And that “cute little cheerleader,” has been married to Donohoe the
past nine years.
“Gosh, I’d forgotten about that,” Donohoe said. “You
know, I remember one night when I hit Jennifer on the shin with a pass and she
had a pretty nice bruise because of it. But that’s right, he did give me
his key. He trusted me back then, and oh my goodness, how I trust him today.”
When Donohoe accepted his first head coaching job at Raytown South High School,
the first person he called to be an assistant was Culp.
He had to decline. But when he moved on to Blue Springs, he did so with Culp
at his side.
“Everyone should have a John Culp in their lives,” Donohoe said. “I
don’t know where I’d be without him.”
Donohoe feels much the same way about all his present and former coaches.
“Bob Barrett, Bruce Graber and of course, John Culp, all had such a great
impact on me at Harrisonville High School,” Dohonoe said. “They really
had an impact on me as a player and a person.
“At Kansas, Bob Valesente was a big character guy who didn’t have
a lot of talent on his team, but treated his players in a special way. And then
we had Glen Mason who was a great motivator and a coach who brought out the toughness
in his players.”
When Donohoe won The Independence/Blue Springs Examiner’s Coach of the
Year award in 2003, he declined to accept it for his role on the team.
Instead, he accepted it as an honor for every coach on his staff.
“That’s a great honor,” Donohoe said. “But you know what?
I think people are sick of hearing my name. Could we do it a little bit different
this year? Let’s make it the staff of the year because I think I have the
best staff in the state.”
Donohoe and his staff have amassed a sensational 45-5 record in four years at
Blue Springs. The only losses have come from Rockhurst (four) (the only team
to keep Blue Springs from advancing in postseason play since Donohoe’s
arrival) and Blue Springs South (one). This year’s team routed Hazelwood
Central 53-0 to finish 13-0 and claim the Class 6 state crown.
“You don’t get as far as we did without a great staff,” Donohoe
said. “I try to tell those guys every day in practice what they mean to
me.
“I mean, they go over and above the call of duty. I appreciate what they
do, and so do the kids.”
Donohoe’s staff includes:
•
Marc Hines, assistant head coach/wide receivers: “Marc has been with us
many years and has tremendous pride in the program. He is a very positive person
with a great heart. He does the little things that go unnoticed.”
•
Mike Spotts, assistant head coach/defensive coordinator: “Mike does a tremendous
job leading the defense. He should be recognized as one of the top defensive
guys around.”
•
Tim Dade, special teams coordinator: “Tim has been with us two years after
a successful career as head coach at Harrisonville. Tim is great with the players
and is always willing to do more to help the program.”
•
John Culp, assistant coach: “Coach Culp (one of Donohoe’s coaches
at Harrisonville) comes in every day from Warrensburg to assist with the offensive
line and lead our sophomore program. John is a very inspirational coach and a
great role model to our players and our staff.”
•
David Podjenski, assistant coach: “Dave coaches our defensive tackles.
He is great with the players and a very positive individual.”
•
Brad Parson, assistant coach: “Brad coaches our outside safeties and has
a very good knowledge of the game because he is an ex-quarterback. He calls the
defense in our JV games.”
•
Eric Neff, assistant coach: “Eric coached with me at Raytown South and
then joined our staff. Eric had been working with the ninth graders but moved
up to varsity this season and did an excellent job with our running backs.”
•
Jeromy Clemons, assistant coach: “Jeromy has done an outstanding job working
with our defensive line. He also calls the defense in our sophomore program.”
•
Jared Barge, assistant coach: “Jared is an ex-Wildcat who does an excellent
job working with the offensive line. Jared calls the offense for our JV program.”
•
Tim McElligott, Shawn Clark, Wendell Fuiamaono, assistant coaches: “These
guys are our ninth grade coaches with Tim being the head coach. All three are
great with kids and they stress the importance of fundamentals and get kids excited
about football.”
•
Josh Adamczek, Vince Redman, assistant coaches: “Both of these guys are
doing their student teaching and helped with the ninth grade. Both of these young
men provided valuable assistance and learned a great deal.”
Donohoe seemingly had it all. He graduated from the University of Kansas and
was making good money with AT&T.
“But you know what?” he asked. “Something was missing. I just
couldn’t see myself working in a cubicle the rest of my life. I wanted
to coach. I talked to some of my friends who were coaching and I knew I had to
get back to what I really wanted to do.”
He got his teaching certificate and joined the staff at Blue Springs South.
“To be honest with you, when I applied in Blue Springs, I didn’t
even know there was a Blue Springs South High School. I wanted to coach at Blue
Springs, which I considered on the same par with state powers like Rockhurst
and Jefferson City.”
In four years, Donohoe became the hottest coaching property in the state. Then,
he made a decision that left his friends and family members shaking their heads.
He accepted the head football position at basketball power Raytown South High
School, the home of Bud Lathrop, the winningest prep coach in the history of
the state.
“I know people called it the worst coaching job in the state,” Donohoe
said, “but I saw it as a great opportunity.”
He took a team that was winless a year before he arrived and went on to win three
consecutive conference titles.
That’s when Crone and Blue Springs came calling. The Wildcats had enjoyed
a run under Bob Beatty that would have been considered wildly successful for
most schools, going 7-3 in consecutive seasons. But that wasn’t good for
Wildcat fans. Beatty resigned and Donohoe was given the chance to accept his
dream job.
“When Tim asked me if I wanted to be coach I told him that I wanted to
stay one more year at South,” Donohoe said. “I asked if he could
hire an interim coach.”
That proposal caught Crone off guard.
“You know, I admired him and wanted him even more after that,” Crone
said. “He’d started something at South and he wanted to finish it.
That shows what type of person Kelly Donohoe is.”
Crone explained that he needed an answer in 24 hours.
“I didn’t want to leave South at that time,” Donohoe said, “but
I couldn’t turn down my dream job. I said yes, with reservations, but looking
back on it, I can’t believe I needed 24 hours to make the decision. I have
the best coaching job in the country.”
The 2003 football season was supposed to be one that reflected the dreaded “r” word.
“At Blue Springs, you don’t rebuild,” Donohoe said, “you
reload.” The Wildcats entered the season with six returning starters (none
on the offensive or defensive lines) and a ton of question marks.
Under the on-field leadership of quarterback Stinson Dean and linebacker Sean
Sharky the Wildcats downed reigning state champion Rockhurst twice and advanced
to the state title game, where they embarrassed St. Louis power Hazelwood East
53-0.
“We had no idea we could win that game like we did,” Donohoe said. “We
really felt if our kids played well, like we told them, we were going to win
this football game. We felt that we were physical and we were playing with a
lot of confidence of late.”
And Donohoe and his staff won it in such a manner that impressed their peers.
A few days before the game the Wildcats starting running back and defensive end
were suspended for breaking team rules.
“It hurt to sit them” Donohoe said, “but what message am I
sending the rest of the team if I play them. We had to win it the right way.”
On their first offensive series, backup running back Cameron Harms rushed around
left tackle for a 73-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead. The junior finished with
183 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
“I can’t say enough good things about coach,” said Dean, who
signed a national letter to play football at Wyoming. “We bumped heads
a few times early in the season, but I know he made me a better quarterback and
a better person.”
Donohoe was furious when Dean reported to pre-season camp without a physical.
He banned the quarterback from speaking to the press, which cost him a cover
story on The Examiner’s Football Preview section.
“I wasn’t very happy at the time,” Dean said, “but looking
back at it, he was right and I was wrong. I feel really lucky to have been able
to work with him the past two seasons. He’s the best, plain and simple.”
And he plans on being the best – at Blue Springs High School – for
a long, long time.
“You know, it’s the holidays and all my relatives have been visiting
and they keep asking me when I’m going to leave Blue Springs,” Donohoe
said.
“I don’t have any intentions of leaving the high school. People talk
about other challenges, but I see the biggest challenge I could face right here.”
That’s great news for Wildcat fans.
And gut-wrenching news for opposing coaches.
“You know, for a long time people talked about Kelly Donohoe as one of
the best young coaches in the state,” veteran Rockhurst coach Tony Severino
said. “Now, you just talk about him as one of the best coaches in the state.
“When you play Kelly’s team, you better be ready to strap it on and
play, because you’re going to have your work cut out for you.”
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