By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Normal Community High School head football coach Wes Temples said he’s resigning so that he someday might become an athletic director.

Temples is leaving after a decade of success as head coach to pursue a master’s degree in administration. Temples told WJBC’s Sam Wood on Tuesday he has a passion for all sports, not just football.

“Being an athletic director was something I’d really want to work towards and I want to do. There’s some steps I have to take in order to put myself in that position. So, now’s as good a time as any probably to start working towards that with the age of my kids. They’re still little and got a little bit of a window before things start getting really hectic around here.”

Temples said he treasurers the time he worked for ex-NCHS head coach Hud Venerable. The hardest part of coaching, said Temples, is saying goodbye to seniors at the end of each season.

“Seeing those seniors and having to say goodbye to those guys. This year was probably in particular the hardest one, when we walked off that field at Mt. Carmel. We had a pretty good group, but also knowing in the back of my mind this was probably the last time that I would have the opportunity to do what I was doing.”​

Temples is the third winningest coach in Ironmen history, with an 83 and 25 record.

He led NCHS to five Big 12 titles and six appearances into the second round of the IHSA playoffs.

“Wes is a man of high character and his teams always reflected that; he coached to win, but he understood and represented that high school football was more than just wins and losses,” said NCHS Athletic Director Mike Clark.

“When his teams took the field you knew who was in charge and that they would play clean, hard, sportsmanlike football,” said Clark.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].