Jeff Nolan, who has spent the past four seasons as the head coach at Paul VI Catholic and 14 years total on the Panthers’ coaching staff, announced to his players tonight that he would be resigning following the season.
Former Panthers coach and current school athletics director Billy Emerson will return to the post beginning this offseason.
The longtime pitching coach and then associate head coach under Emerson, Nolan was promoted to head coach for the 2013 season and has since led the Panthers to a 73-34 record, including a 20-5 mark this season entering their Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) quarterfinal game tomorrow against DeMatha Catholic.
Paul VI has advanced to the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) Division I state tournament in each of Nolan’s first three seasons, and the Panthers are currently ranked No. 2 in the state poll and likely to receive a bid to states again this spring.
Citing recent health issues as the major reason for him stepping down, Nolan informed his players of his intentions at a team outing tonight. The coach has had two back surgeries and hip replacement surgery in recent years, and battles Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract. A flare-up of the disease led to him losing 30 pounds last summer, and symptoms have continued through this season.
The ailments, in addition to the stress and time commitment while running the baseball program in addition to his IT acquisition company, Four Inc., have forced Nolan to make a lifestyle change.
“It’s one of these things mostly where I’ve been battling to stay on the field for years, and during baseball season I am going to bed at 2 a.m. and waking up at 5 a.m., so I’m getting three hours of sleep between running my company and running the baseball team. And my doctor said, ‘Something’s got to give, either cut back on your job or cut back on your coaching’.
“This last year scared me, just because of the dramatic nature of the [Crohn’s] flare-up. It just kind of struck me right out of nowhere. It’s been a challenge even this season, as the symptoms from last June have hung around. And when your’e feeling that way, you’re saying, ‘I want to battle for the kids and do all I can do’, but there are days where I literally can sit on a bucket and that’s about all I can do.”
Nolan grew up in California and played collegiately for legendary Cal Poly Pomona coach John Scolinos, who led his teams to three Division II national championships, earned three national Coach of the Year honors, was the pitching coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team and was named by Collegiate Baseball as the NCAA Division II Coach of the Century. Nolan later coached at the prep level in California before relocating to Virginia, where he joined Emerson when he took the Paul VI job in 2003.
Reached prior to notifying his players today, Nolan grew emotional.
“It’s been a long journey. It’s tough, but it’s something I’ve got to do,” he said. “I’ve been married 30 years to the same girl, and she’s hung in there with me and now it’s time to make sure I’m around later on and I think I need to step away to get the health challenges under control.
“The hardest part is you see your senior class through, but you wish you could see your juniors, sophomores and freshmen through to graduation. But you can’t, and that’s hard to deal with. You love the kids, and there’s an affection that grows for them and you want good things for them.”
Emerson, who returned to coaching this spring as the Panthers’ junior varsity coach, lobbied unsuccessfully for Nolan to stay on the job, proposing concessions that would require less time and administrative duties. But in the end, Nolan’s decision to focus on his health won out.
"I hope after he gets a little break, that we can get him back,” Emerson said. “It's hard to imagine PVI baseball without Jeff Nolan.
"The door is always open for him to do anything he wants in this baseball program. [He is] one of the best people on this planet and one heck of a baseball coach, best I've ever coached with."
Emerson will reassume the head coaching duties after this season. He coached the Panthers to a 219-86 record in 10 seasons from 2003-12, leading Paul VI to three WCAC championships and four VISAA state titles over that span. Under Nolan, the success has continued as the program annually fields one of the top teams in the area.
“I’ve poured my heart and soul into it for 14 years, and it has been so rewarding,” Nolan said. “And you think about it, what do you do for longer than 14 years? So you’re thinking about doing this, you’re thinking, ‘Well, who’s going to replace me?’. So the fact that Billy is going to take it back is fantastic news. I was right there alongside of him and it sort of keeps it in the family, is how I look at it.
“Our program between the varsity and JV teams went 40-5 this spring, so I like to think I’m handing it back to [Emerson] as as good as it was when he handed it off to me four years ago. I’m proud of what I’ve done as a coach, and proud of what I’ve done at Paul VI.”
Photos courtesy of Paul VI Catholic baseball
