Butler's O'Malley to lead WPIAL

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

February 23, 2006 Last Updated: February 23, 2006 01:35 PM High School

The WPIAL has a new leader. The Butler High School athletic department is looking for one.

Tim O'Malley, 55, athletic director at Butler since 1999, is vacating that position to succeed Larry Hanley as executive director of the WPIAL.

Hanley has been executive director of the WPIAL since 1997 and has served that organization for decades. O'Malley begins a five-year term as his replacement April 1.

"Larry has been talking about retiring for the past year or so," O'Malley said. "His wife is also retiring and he wants to spend more time with family.

"Larry and his predecessor, Chuck Heberling, built that position. I just want to continue in their footsteps."

O'Malley was appointed executive director by unanimous vote of the WPIAL Board of Control. He has been president of that 20-member panel for the past eight years.

He accepted the executive director appointment Wednesday after meeting with Butler school superintendent Ed Fink.

"I'm flattered and a bit overwhelmed," O'Malley said of the unanimous vote. "They've put a lot of faith in me.

"I'll always cherish my time in Butler. If not for this opportunity, they would have had to throw me out of here eventually. I was very comfortable here. The coaches here are the most sincere, genuine and hardest-working people I've ever been associated with."

O'Malley repeatedly defended Butler coaches during his tenure "because they have qualities worth defending," he said.

"It takes a special person to coach high school athletics because you're giving up family time to work with young people," O'Malley said. "Coaching is an imperfect science, but we've never had a problem with any coach at Butler dealing with kids in a wrongful or abusive way.

"We have good, decent, hard-working and honest people guiding these kids. Their effort and dedication cannot be questioned. Sometimes the wins aren't there, but I will always defend that."

O'Malley's final day as Butler athletic director is March 7. Full-time athletic secretary Debbie Terwilliger and part-time athletic secretary Michelle Gladd will oversee the department until his successor is named.

Gladd will join Terwilliger as a full-time athletic secretary until O'Malley's replacement is found.

"We're grateful to Tim for the dedication and hard work he's given us and we wish him well," Fink said. "The timing of this move is good. All of the spring schedules are completed and Tim has left the door open for us to call him if we need his assistance on any matter."

Fink said the open position at Butler already has been posted locally and throughout the state.

O'Malley compared his new duties with the WPIAL to those of a high school athletic director.

"The difference is now I'm overseeing 139 member high schools and nearly 200 junior high or middle school programs," he said. "There's a lot of responsibility, but I'd have been a fool to pass up this opportunity. It probably wouldn't have come around again.

"I've got 34 years in the education business. I'm in position to retire. The timing is right."

And O'Malley is right for the job.

"Tim is the obvious choice and the WPIAL board recognized that," WPIAL administrative assistant Jim Collins said. "He has the knowledge of the PIAA and tremendous insight when it comes to high school athletics.

"He has an outstanding personality and ample experience as an administrator. Tim is liked and respected throughout the industry."

Hanley is in North Carolina on personal business and was unavailable for comment.

O'Malley replaced interim athletic director Fay Steving at Butler in July of 1999. Steving had replaced Gary Milanovich, who retired from the position in 1998.