Providence Football Coach Coglianese To Retire After 2021 Season

NEW LENOX, IL - The Providence Catholic High School football program has had only two head coaches in its 53-year history, the school said in a release. That will change after the 2021 season this fall, with the announcement from the school that Head Coach Mark Coglianese will retire.

The school said Coglianese has coached football at the school for 34 years, and 15 as head coach.

Coach “Cogs” has been coaching and teaching at Providence for more than three decades, the school said. In his 15 years as head coach, he has recorded 103 wins and 62 losses for a 62 percent winning percentage.

Coglianese collected his 100th win this spring at Notre Dame College Prep, the school said. In 2014, he took his team to the Class 7A State Championship where he completed the “Quest for X” and brought home the school’s 10th state football championship trophy.

In addition, Coglianese took his teams to the Class 6A state title game in 2009; the Class 6A state semi-final games in 2006, 2008, 2017 and 6A quarterfinal game in 2007. Before taking over as head coach, he was the defensive coordinator for seven of the ten Providence State Championship teams, the school said.

“After the upcoming 2021 football season, it will be time for me to step down as head coach and let someone else take over this great tradition-rich program,” Coglianese said in a statement to his team. Coglianese will remain at the school as a teacher and head track and field coach.

“Coaching football at PCHS for the past 34 years, both as an assistant and then head coach, has been a fabulous experience. I have been blessed with an amazingly supportive family. I owe so much to my wife who has sacrificed so much of her life for me and allowed me to spend so much time away from home, my son who grew up on the football field and went from the boy that ran out to get the kickoff tee, to ball boy, to player and then to coach, and my daughter who knows the game as well as anyone and is a passionate supporter of me and Providence football," he said. "I am grateful to have had so many dedicated coaches and players who believed in carrying on the Celtic Tradition. I owe a special thanks to all of them and their families. Being able to build great relationships with my players and see them succeed not only on the field but in life after football has been very gratifying."

Coglianese is a member of the Chicago Catholic League Hall of Fame and the Millikin University Hall of Fame, the school said.

Providence Catholic High School ranks third in state football titles with 10 (1987, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2014), according to the school. The program is also ranked 6th in the state for most overall state trophies in football (37) and is tied for seventh with most consecutive undefeated seasons (3). The program was rated 13th in the country by USA Today in 2004.

The Providence Catholic High School football program was founded by Matt Senffner who served as head coach from 1968-2005.

“Mark has been a tremendous Christian role model for the young men he has coached on the field throughout his career at Providence Catholic High School,” said Doug Ternik, the school’s Athletic Director. “We thank him for his leadership and dedication to our football program and the mission of the school.”

Ternik said he will conduct a search for the next football coach in the fall.