Longtime Delaware State University and Sussex Tech High School football head coach Bill Collick announced his retirement Friday morning.
Collick, who was at DSU for 13 years as its head football coach and seven more as an assistant and the school's athletic director, has manned the Ravens' sidelines since 2000.
"Prior to [the 2009 season], there was thought that it might be my last," Collick said of his decision to pass the headset. "There comes a point when it's someone else's time."
Tech athletic director Joe Thomson, who said Collick was not only a good coach and mentor but also a good friend, and the rest of the school administration have not yet decided on a new head coach.
Thomson did say whoever comes in, "will have some big shoes to fill."
The new coach will also take over a program that had its best season in five years, won a share of the Henlopen Conference Northern Division crown and earned the No. 4 seed in the state tournament, where it lost a tough re-match to No. 5 Caesar Rodney.
"It has been a tremendous thing to get a program [back to] respectability," said Collick, who was crucial in rebuilding both the DSU and Sussex Tech programs. "We have three programs now [at Tech] and had to go back to the district to request more funds for the 90 or so kids we have today [as opposed] to the 40 we had when I started.
"Certainly whoever takes over will have a good foundation [of talent to begin with]."
As for now, Collick will still take an avid interest in football, just not from the sidelines calling plays.
Instead he plans to watch as many college games as he can both on television and in person with his free time.
"You only get so many Fridays and Saturdays," Collick said with a laugh. "I have this grandiose idea of traveling and seeing some great college football games."
More on Collick's retirement and the direction Tech plans to take will be in Wednesday's print edition of the Sussex Countian.
