Wheaton Warrenville South Hall of Fame head coach Ron Muhitch retires
WHEATON, ILL. (BVM) — After 41 years of patrolling the sidelines of Wheaton Warrenville South football, head coach Ron Muhitch has officially retired from coaching.
Muhitch is considered one of the most successful coaches in Illinois high school football history, having won three state championship titles in 2006, 2009, and 2010 and two runner-ups. In 2018, Muhitch was inducted into the IHSA Football Hall of Fame for his success on the sidelines as head coach of Wheaton Warrenville South. He boasts a 153-63 career record with 13 DuPage Valley Conference titles.
During the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Muhitch was already considering retirement as the thoughts of having a complete football season in the fall was put on hold.
“That would have been 40 years,” Muhitch said in an interview with Mike Clark of the Chicago Sun-Times. “It sounded like a good time to give it to somebody else and move on. As my wife said to me, “‘‘It’s about time you graduated from high school.’”
The Tigers ended their shortened season with a 4-2 record, finishing their season off at a neutral site in DeKalb, Ill. at Northern Illinois University after a tough loss to Saint Charles North. Though there had been speculation, the announcement of Muhitch’s retirement came in early May.
Muhitch has always been respected by his players and coaching staff. Since taking over as head coach in 2003. He’s impacted many players both on and off the field. Two notable names to go through his program are current New York Jets Wide Receiver Corey Davis and New England Patriots Fullback Dan Vitale.
Former wide receiver Travis Kern played under Coach Muhitch during their 2009 state championship run. He had the chance to talk about some of the impacts the former head coach made on the high school program.
“I think you’d be hard pressed to find another program in the state that works as hard and cares as much as the players and staff at Wheaton South,” Kern said. “That dedication started with Coach Muhitch and spread throughout every aspect of the program.
Another alumni who played through Muhitch’s tenure was quarterback Matthew Dohse, who saw first-hand what the coach was like when colleges would come to talk about recruiting players.
“Coach Muhitch was second to none in terms of getting his athletes to the next level,” Dohse said. “As a player, you knew he would have your back no matter what and he wouldn’t stop getting in contact with coaches until you had the opportunity to play at the next level.”
After the retirement, Wheaton South hired internally as their offensive coordinator Sean Norris will be taking over the head coaching duties. He’s just the third head coach at the high school since 1980.
With the storied history of the program, Norris plans to fill in the shoes of Coach Muhitch in positive ways.
“It’s a great honor and a great responsibility, one I don’t take lightly,” Norris said in an interview with the Daily Herald. ” I’m excited. I spoke to our players about embracing the past and creating our new future.”
