Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Football Social Media

In an announcement in March, long-time Mid-Prairie head football coach Pete Cavanagh resigned his position with the program. Cavanagh joined the staff at Mid-Prairie as an assistant in 1998, under then head coach Mark Dalton. He became Golden Hawk head coach in 2003. After 20 seasons, he steps down as Mid-Prairie’s longest tenured and winningest coach with a 123-77 overall record. That win total is more than three times the number accumulated by No. 2 on the list, John Strain, who led the Hawks from 1971 to 1976.

Before Cavanagh’s time on the sidelines as head coach in Wellman, the school had just two playoff appearances and no postseason wins. Cavanagh took the Hawks to the playoffs 13 times, including three district tiles and scored 12 postseason victories, reaching the quarterfinal round of the playoffs four times. He coached 24 all-state players. This week, Cavanagh spoke with KCII sports about his time as head coach of the Hawks and why this was the appropriate time to step away. “This program has meant a lot. I was an assistant coach for five years under coach (Mark) Dalton, and learned a lot. In ’03 when I got the job, I learned a lot on the fly. I had some great assistant coaches and some awesome players through the years of course. Coaching football is pretty much a year long job. It’s been a great thing for us, my family, and being a teacher in the district and being able to coach. You know, you get to a point in your career and you’re just like ‘Okay…what’s maybe on the horizon here? Or, let’s maybe let’s give another person a chance here. That’s kind of how I viewed this decision. This just felt like the right time for me. I feel like the program is at a point where hopefully, whoever takes over is going to be able to just step in and, not do everything the same way, but carry-on some of the same traditions and expectations. I really enjoyed my 20 years as the head coach.”

Cavanagh coached a total of 200 games in 20 years for the black and gold, posting a 61% winning percentage. Mid-Prairie finished the 2022 season with a 6-4 record.