Head coach needed at Central, Memorial
- Updated: February 4, 2021
The Central and Memorial baseball programs have a lot in common. Both compete in Division I, both play their home games in Manchester and both need a head coach.
Kevin O’Leary has resigned as Manchester Central’s varsity baseball coach, and Teri Gatzoulis has stepped down as the varsity baseball coach at Manchester Memorial. Both said the decision was made for family reasons.
O’Leary, who spent eight seasons as Central’s coach, has two young daughters (age 4 and 6) and said it would have been difficult for him to balance time with his family and a varsity baseball job.
“It’s only two-and-a-half months, but it’s two-and-a-half months every single day,” he said. “I couldn’t give the amount of time a varsity program needs to succeed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that this year. It’s not fair to the kids not being able to spend the amount of time that’s needed. If somebody can come in and dedicate that time they’ll be better off.”
Gatzoulis realized he would have to stop coaching when his wife left her job at Cawley Middle School in Manchester to accept a full-time position at Proctor Academy. He spent the last five years as the head coach at Memorial, where he works as a guidance counselor.
“She was at Cawley, so she was able to come home and pick up my daughter from Green Acres (Green Acres Elementary School) and take her to dance and all her extra stuff, and now she can’t,” Gatzoulis said. “It was family reasons. It has nothing to do with anything else. This will be the first season in 21 years that I haven’t coached. I’ll miss it.”
Gatzoulis, 47, also served as the varsity baseball coach at Trinity for one year. Before that he was an assistant coach with the Memorial baseball program for four years, and the junior varsity coach at Goffstown for 11 years.
March 29 is the first date NHIAA baseball teams are allowed to practice.
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