(Publisher’s Note: This article was published in January soon after the announcement was made that coaching legend Mike Young would be inducted into the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. But that was months ago and it’s likely most people have forgotten about the honor. That is why we’ve decided to re-publish this feature on Coach Young, who is not only a top-notch coach but also one of the best humans anyone could ever meet. Congratulations again, Mike!)
As you approach the house, you notice how handsomely landscaped and maintained it is. Only when you step onto the porch do you get a hint that someone is associated with Wheeling Central Catholic, the clue a decorative bench in the corner. Once inside, the foyer, living room and kitchen are beautifully arranged. It is a lovely home. After passing through those rooms, and entering into the den/rec room/man cave, you realize sporting success is also part of the environment. It is decorated with memorabilia from many seasons, most of which culminated in championships.
The home, and its layout, are the perfect illustration of the life and work of Carol and Mike Young. It’s family first, always family first, then football. Football isn’t far behind, but it is never ranked number one. Every time you speak to the Youngs, it’s family first, then football.
The house isn’t a shrine, it’s a home. Included in that home is the den, a shrine to Young’s amazing career coaching high school football. He’s rightfully allowed that, and he’s rightfully proud of that. But just not before family.
Coming in June 2024, Mike Young will be inducted into the second class of the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. His name will be forever on record as a member. He knows, and everyone who knows him knows: he may stand alone on that stage, but he is anything but alone. This recognition of a historic coaching career is a family award.
“I consider myself very blessed, very honored to be recognized for what I’ve been able to accomplish. But I didn’t accomplish it without all the people in my life, starting with my mother and dad, my brothers and sisters, my cousins, my aunts and my uncles,” Young said.
“I consider myself very fortunate. At the same time, the recognition is great, but I’ve got to be humble because it’s not about me, it’s about we and the people being so great to me and working with me.”
Young’s biggest fan is his wife of more than 30 years, Carol. They knew each other as teens, attending different high schools. Carol went to Triadelphia High School, and Mike attended Wheeling Central Catholic High School. Then they attended West Liberty State College together, even having some classes together as they both focused on special education. They taught together for a brief period at Lincoln School, Carol in the elementary school and Mike in the high school. But they were only friends and went in different personal directions.
They finally dated and married after: Carol, with two children Justin and Whitney, was widowed by a car accident; and Mike was divorced and sharing his two sons John and Jason in joint custody. Once together, they became a family with bonds nothing can break apart.
“She is the type of person, if you know her she makes you better. Why, because you want to do better. She’s the type of person that you want to do your best for and with and in front of. I attribute so much of where I am with our family, and our coaching, because she has the same feelings towards kids that I have,” Young said of his wife.
“She taught junior high special needs, I taught high school special needs. She taught for 33 years, I taught for 36 years. We both have similar backgrounds where we came from nothing but didn’t know it. We didn’t have anything but we thought we had it all because of the way we were raised. We appreciate each other so much, and our kids.”
A Family Affair
Where did Young’s commitment and focus on family first come from? In his own family growing up. Young, the second of nine children born to Jack and Rosalie Dailer Young, rattled off their names in order without blinking. He knows his family and knows how important those siblings and parents are to him. Jacqueline (Kaniecki), Mike, Jennifer (Decker), Jeff, Joe (deceased), Janet (Gordon), Mark, Molly (Tolbert), and Matt. He’s proud that sister Molly still lives in the home they were raised.
“I’ve been fortunate to have been raised in a large family where everybody had to get along, everybody had to work together. Being the second oldest of nine kids, four brothers and four sisters, you had to show some leadership even though you didn’t want to. You had to be responsible for your chores, your things around the house. And at the same time, you had to work with your younger brothers, younger siblings, and what their responsibilities were. A lot of times I tried to pass it off onto them because I was the oldest boy,” Young said.
“Coming from a great set of parents in my mother and dad Rosalie and Jack Young, they’re both icons as far as I’m concerned. A lot of my direction and feelings and motivations to teach and coach actually stems from them because of how they taught me to work with people and taught me to accept responsibility.
“When I was in the fifth grade I had a paper route, and we passed that paper route down through all four of my brothers. We went out and shoveled snow and raked leaves and cut grass. We all had our jobs, and we didn’t think of them as work. We thought of them as a contribution to the family, a contribution to the household. My sisters did a lot of babysitting; well, at times if they were being called on and couldn’t get there I’d even go babysitting. So, it was always a good relationship in terms of accepting changes, accepting sometimes adversity, accepting some personalities that you lived with and you had to endure and you had to put up with, you had to get along with.
“We had a third floor where we grew up on Poplar Avenue. We moved in there in 1956, and my youngest sister to this day lives in that same house with her family. She’s done a remarkable job maintaining that four-bedroom home that at one time only had one bathroom. Eleven people shared that bathroom. You waited in line in the hallway to get in next. Sometimes you had to get up early to get your spot. It’s things like that you remember, you reflect back on. You see that you were brought up in a caring, loving family.
“That’s how I coach,” Young continued. “That’s how I work with kids today and try and teach them. Those trophies in the trophy cases, and the rings and all that, they’re great to achieve and great to have memories with. But I think the memories of the relationships are the key factor. The relationships of brothers and sisters; the relationships of teachers and coaches I had that were impactful in my growing and development and wanting to be a teacher and a coach.”
A 1967 graduate from Wheeling Central Catholic, Young played football for coaching legends George Strager and Andy Urbanic.; he also played basketball and tennis. Once graduated, Young was a four-year letterman on the West Liberty State College tennis team.
He took his first full-time job in the 1971-72 school year, serving as a special education teacher at Lincoln School. In the evenings, he was an assistant football coach for Buddy Pfaadt, an assistant basketball coach for Sam Andy, and an assistant track coach for Sam Morgan at Wheeling High School.
He left after that year to begin what turned into a 35-year career teaching special education at St. Clairsville High School. He served as an assistant football coach for 16 years for Strager and as tennis coach. Young succeeded Strager as head coach from 1988-97 and was a two-time District Football Coach of the Year selection, compiling a 52-41 record with six ECOL crowns and two OVAC championships. Young also led St. Clairsville to the OVAC tennis titles in 1983-84.
He returned to his alma mater for the 1997 season as an assistant coach on Jim Thomas’ staff until taking the head coach position in 2005. In his 19 years as head coach at Wheeling Central, Young has compiled a 180-55 record pushing his career total to 232-96. He has qualified for the West Virginia state playoffs 17 of 19 seasons, won eight state titles: 2005-07, 2010-11, and 2017-19; and won three OVAC titles: 2006-07 and 2022.
The awards appropriately have accumulated. In 1960, the Young family was recognized by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston as Catholic Family of the Year in West Virginia. Young won the 2007 Dapper Dan Man of the Year, the 2017 OVAC Coach of the Year, and the 2018 West Virginia Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the West Liberty Hall of Fame in 2012 after graduating in 1971. Young is a member of the Wheeling Central HOF and now, it’s time to add another HOF, the National High School Football Hall of Fame, to the list.
The Enshrinement Ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 8, at McKinley Auditorium in Canton. The VIP Media Red Carpet begins at 3 p.m., and the ceremony follows at 5 p.m. A press conference announcing the class is scheduled for Wednesday, January 10, at 10 a.m. on the campus of Canton McKinley High School. For more information visit www.NHSFOOTBALLHOF.com.
The press conference, which will be streamed, will identify all members of the Class of 2024. Rumored to be included in the 2024 HOF class with Young and fellow area high school football coaching legend, Reno Saccoccia, are: Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims; NCAA/NFL great Eric Dickerson; Syracuse’s Ernie Davis; and an Akron native/NBA superstar, Lebron James.
The induction will be quite the affair. For Mike Young, it will be a family affair.
