Long-time Triton College AD Harry McGinnis announces retirement

(Story and image submitted by Triton College Athletics...Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)

During his 29 season as Triton College head wrestling coach, Harry McGinnis had to get "down and dirty" on the mat to show his athletes the right techniques and mental toughness all rolled up into one.

"You have to win with technique, and control your emotions," said McGinnis. "One of things that bothered me is coaches tell you what to do and not show you. I went to clinics to glean from the experts. Everyone has a different style and different body type. I would tell them during the season, this is the time (in practice) to make mistakes."

"In the tourney, the team that wins is the one that makes the least amount of mistakes. Learn, and try to eliminate the mistakes. At end of the season, you're competing at the highest level you can. So I had to show them."

Grappling with his players even deep into middle age was no tall story by McGinnis.

"I've seen him wrestle with his players," said Triton head softball coach Christina Christopher. "He put his money where his mouth is. He can hang with college athletes."

Yet a different personality of McGinnis had to double up with his body English when in 2004, after 16 years as Triton wrestling coach, he took on the additional responsibilities as athletic director. This time, McGinnis had to be chief vocal backer for all sports, manager of budgets and facilities, and ambassador and advocate with the college administration.

"The athletic director needs to be cheerleader for all sports, not just his own," he said.  "I'm out there for all the sports. The one sport that did suffer was my own. I'd have to be setting up basketball and volleyball games, and miss part of my practice. You need a good assistant (wrestling) coach who could take over while you do other things. You have to do what you got to do."

"The position was open. I felt I had the ability, I felt I had the knowledge to step in, and also be a coach of a secondary sport."

McGinnis, 67, who passed the duties as wrestling head coach over to Tim Duggan three years ago, now is retiring full-bore after a memorable run as athletic director. He leaves the Triton athletic program in better shape than when he started.

Men's basketball is established at an elite level, before and after its 2018 national championship. Women's softball, basketball and volleyball are becoming consistent winners. Men's soccer has won several regional championships. Baseball, an age-old Triton tradition, is always a contender. Wrestling continues to produce All-Americans.

Better yet, the multiple athletic fields built during the McGinnis regime are first-class and attractive in recruiting athletes.

"Facilities are a big selling point," he said. "With newer facilities, that's a big deal."

Officially retiring on June 30, McGinnis knows the credo of departing with some gas left in the tank rather than goosing to the finish line on empty.

"I'm older, and that's one of the things that bothered me," he said.  "People past their prime and are still doing it, when there were a lot of younger people eager to learn this position.  It takes a lot of energy, a lot of time. I can still get it done, but it's time for somebody else to fill these shoes."

The void of losing McGinnis will be felt by all in the athletic department including Sports Information Specialist Tim McKinney. For his 25 years associated with Triton as a student, radio announcer, coach and his current role, McKinney knows it will be quite an adjustment not having McGinnis around.

"Harry is the first one in the office in the morning and typically one of the last to leave the office at night," McKinney said. "When July comes around and walking to his office and not seeing him there will definitely be strange. But what Harry has accomplished as both a coach and athletic director at Triton will be unmatched. I always appreciated Harry's sincerity. I could do something that I thought really was not that big of a deal, but if it was for the good of the department and our athletes, it meant the world to him."

At one time, McGinnis was a young coach, running on full with reserves ready to roll. A Fort Wayne, Ind., native, McGinnis was a four-year letterman for Concordia Lutheran High School. He continued his academic and athletic careers at Concordia University in Chicago, where he was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame in Oct. 2003.

After college graduation, McGinnis immediately settled in the Chicago area as head wrestling coach, first on the Northwest Side's Luther North (1978-80) and River Grove's Holy Cross (1980-87) high schools. Both institutions, whose student-athletes attended Triton, no longer exist.

He coached one state qualifier, hosted and coached culture exchange teams versus New Zealand, Germany and Japan, and was an assistant coach with the 1996 Illinois Junior National Greco team. McGinnis also completed his master's degree in exercise physiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Then from 1989-2019, McGinnis began his run of keeping up the proud tradition of the Trojans wrestling program to become the longest serving head coach in Triton athletic history. He produced 143 national qualifiers, 31 All-Americans, 139 Academic All-Americans and had four of his All-Americans participate on the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national team that competed in Austria. His 1997 team was crowned Division III national champions, earning him National Coach of the Year honors. The 2003 team was named the NJCAA Coaches Association All-Academic team with a combined 3.28 grade point average.

McGinnis was named the Midwest Region's Coach of the Year in 1998 and inducted into the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame as a coach in 2002. In March of 2004 he received the Bob Bubb Award for Coaching Excellence from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. In 2006 McGinnis was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame.

Active in the NJCAA Coaches Association, McGinnis served as secretary/treasurer from 2001-2003 and 2005-2010, Midwest Region representative from 1994-2018, Hall of Fame Committee member from 1995-2018 and chairman of the committee from 2002-11. In 2008 Harry was voted by his peers as the NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association's Man of the Year. In 2014 McGinnis was inducted into the Region IV Hall of Fame as a coach and athletic administrator.

Any honors McGinnis gained along the way were richly deserved, said Triton men's basketball coach Steve Christiansen, who had completed his rookie year on the job when McGinnis became athletic director.

"The bottom line is Harry simply cares," Christiansen said. "He cares about other people's success, especially at a level like this where you have to invest so much of yourself. He brings it every day. He's a salt of the earth human being."

Where McGinnis succeeded is not naming a favorite athlete or moment. All were esteemed in his eyes. He is appreciated by Triton athletes as their No. 1 fan.

"Harry comes and supports our games," said Christopher. "He knows all our players by their first and last names, knows their strengths and flaws. He's always around. They really enjoy it. They feel they're accomplishing something when they're producing something in front of the athletic director. He is a positive reinforcement to this athletic program."

Where Triton had gained renown as a baseball school that had produced big leaguers when McGinnis became athletic director, the school is now known as a basketball power. Christiansen felt nothing but wind at his back from the front office when he looked to fulfill his vision for the Trojans' program.

"He just supported me," he said. "Harry always had my back with the Region, all the directors. Obviously I'm a competitive guy. I know how much I put into it. He always defended me as a person. He helped changed the narrative. A lot of guys want to meddle, but he didn't. Harry was a believer in how we do things."

The job did not get any easier with the elevation of programs to success. McGinnis departs having to be an even bigger master of details and NJCAA bylaws than in 2005.

"Eligibility rules always are changing, and you have to keep up on these rules," he said. "More international kids are coming in. A lot of stuff you have to verify. It used to be paper, now it's on-line. But it's still 'paper' you have to fill in. You have to verify high-school diplomas, transcripts from other places and enrollment status."

McGinnis never had to sleep at the school during busy times because he lived around the corner in Maywood with wife Linda, and children Hannah and Jonah. A recent household addition is four-year-old white boxer Wilson, named after Wilson Sporting Goods and Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. Wilson is frequently seen at outdoor Triton events.

"It's impossible to do this job and live far away," McGinnis said. "I'm here all the time. If I'm not here, I'm near here."

He won't go far in retirement, either. Showing off Wilson will be one priority. Another McGinnis pride and joy is an in-restoration 1969 Oldsmobile 442 with a 455 engine. He'll be motoring in his classic to car shows.

And, for sure, McGinnis will remain a top Trojans fan, only this time without portfolio in the stands or on the sidelines. Triton red and gold is permanently imprinted in his blood.