A visit with WPIAL champion coach Bill Cleary


Background Info: Bill Cleary has been a jack-of-all-trades during his 35-year career at Serra Catholic. In his early days, he was the school’s cross-country coach and, in 1987, became the first baseball coach when the Eagles reformed the program. But it in on the hardwood as the girls basketball coach where the long-time athletic director made his mark. He started out as a temporary fill-in when the in the mid-1980s when he took over when the previous coach was on maternity leave, then took over the position full time and carried the program to new heights. During his tenure, Cleary won the WPIAL Class 2A title in 1992 and in Class 1A in 1999, 2003 and 2005, capturing the Eagles only state championship in 2005. He has also been a member of the WPIAL board and the basketball steering committee for many years.

Bill Cleary on his WPIAL experience.
"The WPIAL is just a first-class organization that does such a great job for the student-athletes and the schools itself. It provides you your schedule and the championship rounds are probably the best in the state, no doubt."

Bill Cleary on the highlight of his coaching career.
"Well, in terms of the performance and stuff like that, it would be winning a WPIAL championship or a state championship, those are the obvious things that jump right out at you."

Bill Cleary on winning the WPIAL and state championship in 2005.
"I knew the team we had coming back that year, I knew we had a chance and certain things had to fall into place. It was just an incredible year. Losing was never an option for that team. They lost once (to Clairton), they were 29-1 and anybody they put in front of us, we found a way to beat you. You have to be good to do that and we had the talent, we had the depth and we had a lot going for us, but it was just a remarkable season. You never experience anything like that and I was very fortunate to experience it with my girls."

Bill Cleary on his legacy at Serra.
"I never thought I’d be talking about legacies. I’m just a guy who came to work every day and tried to do the best for his players and the game itself. I wanted to make sure it was played correctly and everything was done right."