In every department of Winthrop High School it is not hard to find an intriguing staff member. Today The Viking Times will be focusing on Coach Cadigan, a highly respected member of the P.E department at Winthrop High School. Coach Cadigan teaches several gym classes and is the coach of the Winthrop Vikings football team here at WHS. I sat down with Coach Cadigan this week to give students a small insight into his life where we talked about how he prepares for a football game down to his hobbies.

Sheridan: How long have you been teaching for?

Coach Cadigan: “This is my 16th year.”

S: How long have you been teaching at WHS?

Cadigan: “I should say this is my 16th year here. I’ve been teaching for 17 years total.”

S: Have you worked in any other fields besides teaching?

Cadigan: “No, but I started out as a football coach here. This is my 21st year, so I was a football coach before I was teaching.”

S: Have you always wanted to go into teaching/coaching?

Cadigan: “Yes.”

S: Did anything in your life influence your career path?

Cadigan: “Probably coaches and teachers that I had.”

S: What is your favorite grade to teach?

Cadigan: “Favorite grade to teach, that’s a good question. I used to teach the freshman more, now I don’t as often. I didn’t mind teaching the freshman because they were new to the highschool and I could mold them and guide them a little bit. Now I teach the older kids, and it’s obviously a difference cause some of them are a little bit tougher to deal with. They know what they’re doing, in a way, but it’s mostly a maturity thing. I didn’t mind taking the freshman. I would say I did enjoy teaching them.”

S: What do you like to do outside of work?

Cadigan: “What I like to do outside of work is pretty boring. I like to play with my kids, hang out with my family and be active. I should travel more but I don’t have a lot of time to do that. That’s the goal: to travel more.”

S: What do you do throughout the week to prepare for a big game?

Cadigan: What I do throughout the week uh so you break it down day by day. Saturday is somewhat of a day off because you play on Friday although we watch a lot of film from Friday night to make all the corrections and stuff. Saturday’s like a correction day. Sunday is you’re watching a ton of film on your next opponent. Monday, you’re presenting the game plan to the players; this is what we’re gonna do. Tuesday is a defensive day so strictly defensive practice. Wednesdays an offensive practice. Thursday which today is, it’s a total team thing so offense, defense, and special teams and Friday you play and you start the whole cycle over again. So to be honest with you football season flies by, goes pretty quick because once you get in it you’re just in the routine you go.

S: Do you have any other hobbies or interests besides football?

Cadigan: Yeah, I like to workout. That’s about it, I mean like I said I should travel more, I want to travel more. I should read more. I like to read but I don’t read enough so those two things.

S: Are you aware that a lot of students are intimidated by you?

Cadigan: I’ve heard that.

S: Is there anything you want to say to dispel that perception?

Cadigan: No.

S: Is there anything that you want students to know about you that they might not already?

Cadigan: That I care, cause I think people think that I don’t care because of my demeanor but, I’ll be one of the first people to help anybody here if they needed help. Or do an interview.

S: Is there any advice that you want to give to the students of WHS?

Cadigan: Yeah. Um, continually learn. You’re never gonna stop learning. You know the older you get the smarter you get as long as you continually learn. Whatever it is that you want to do like and that’s kinda of, i’ve talked to my football players about this like homework never ends you know in the traditionally sense it ends but if you want to be good at your job you’re going to do homework you know later on you gotta bring some of that work home and you know but really never stop learning and always trying to get better at everything you do.

As you can see Coach Cadigan has many interests outside and is always around if you need him. We hope that you enjoyed getting a better insight on Coach Cadigan! I would like to give a special thank you to Coach Cadigan for taking the time to sit down with me for this interview.