‘Senior season’ for NC coach
North Catholic football coach Pat O’Shea never liked being the center of attention.
This fall, though, he might not have much of a choice.
Whether he likes it or not, much of the spotlight surrounding the Trojans’ 2022 season will fall on O’Shea, who is in his sixth year as North Catholic’s head coach and eighth year overall with the program.
At the start of a heat acclimatization practice before the season in early August, O’Shea gathered his players and coaches together for a brief meeting. There, he told them that this would be his last season of coaching, as he plans to retire after the season to spend more time with his family.
“I told the players, I told the families, I told the school. I wanted the kids to know this was my senior season, too,” O’Shea said. “I’ve known for a couple months that this was it. … Sometimes in life, you don’t get to check the boxes. I wanted my wife and my children to know that going in, too.”
A graduate of Seneca Valley High School where he played outside linebacker under coach Terry Henry, O’Shea has spent the past 30 years coaching at various different stops. His coaching career began with a stint at Northgate fresh out of college as an assistant under John Haddad, then he went back to Seneca to coach under Henry.
After spending a few years with the Raiders, O’Shea and his family moved to Laurel, where he spent the next 12 years as an assistant coach. There, he coached under Jerry Holzhauser, who he called one of the biggest influences in his coaching career. O’Shea raised his family in Laurel, and many of his children still consider it home.
“Being with coach Holzhauser was probably my biggest blessing. He’s an amazing man,” O’Shea said. “That’s basically where my kids, our seven kids, that’s kind of where they were raised. They love Laurel football. It in itself is a really special place. It’s a special community and a special school. I always check their scores, because I loved my days there.”
After more than a decade with the Spartans, the opportunity to coach at North Catholic alongside thenhead coach Jason Gildon arose, and O’Shea jumped on it. After two years as an assistant, he took over for Gildon as head coach, and the Trojans have spent the past five-plus years as one of the most successful and consistent programs in the WPIAL.
Including its 37-14 Week Zero win vs. Serra Catholic last Friday, North Catholic holds a record of 49-9 under O’Shea’s watch — including 43-4 in the regular season and 34-1 in conference play. The Trojans have won at least a share of their conference title in each of O’Shea’s first five seasons at the helm, and last year they made their first WPIAL championship appearance under his watch.
Now, having moved up from Class 3A to Class 4A for the 2022-23 cycle, the competition and road to get back to the championship is more daunting than ever before. But despite graduating a boatload of seniors after last year’s WPIAL runner-up finish, O’Shea still has plenty of confidence in this year’s group — and it showed in the season-opening win vs. Serra.
“I think it was a good game for both teams. It was exciting to start off with two Catholic schools, and I had never coached at that stadium before. It was nice to add that stadium to my list,” O’Shea said. “They’re a good football team with a lot of talent, and same with us. We’re trying to grow into the new changes with a new offensive coordinator. A lot of players who were situational players last year who we would now define as starters.
“Each drive, offensively and defensively, and each opportunity, we got better and better. We made progress.”
Junior running back Jack Fennell led North Catholic in rushing a year ago, and he could be primed for a breakout season this fall. A standout sprinter for the Trojans’ acclaimed track and field team, Fennell ran for 63 yards and a score in the win vs. Serra on Friday.
For Fennell, the lasting memory he’ll take away from his time spent with O’Shea is the way he treated the whole team like part of his family.
“He does a great job with teaching kids that it’s more than about football. He creates good, young men,” Fennell said. “I came as a freshman and knew this team had a really good history the past few years, so he was everything I expected. A very great coach and great person to learn from.”
For O’Shea, family has always come first. He and his wife have seven children, and they all have grown up around football and have always been part of his teams. Many of them have moved on from high school and are either in college or have already started their own families now.
Now, O’Shea feels like it’s time for him to be there for them as a father whenever they need him — and for his youngest sons, McGinnis and McGuire, he wants to be able to watch them play high school ball without doubling as their coach. McGinnis is a sophomore at North Catholic, while McGuire is in sixth grade.
“I’m going to hang it up here at the end now and just watch my last two boys play,” O’Shea said. “As my seven children have gotten a little bit older, I just want to be able to show up whenever I want to show up and be able to help whenever they need my help.”
As expected, O’Shea wants the focus to be on the players and their goals for the season, while he would prefer to just fade into the background once it’s over. But when you have the success he has had with the Trojans and the impact he’s had on his players, you don’t always get to choose to avoid the spotlight. Sometimes, it chooses you.
“I told them this is the last time we’ll talk about it. The focus is solely on this football team,” O’Shea said. “I just have a sense that I’ve had for a while now that it’s just time.”