DiMatteo resigns at Hinsdale Central

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:06PM

After Sunday, Mike DiMatteo won't have to worry about missing any of his son's football games anymore.

DiMatteo's oldest son, Raymond, will play in his youth league's championship game Sunday, but DiMatteo will not be able to attend due to his football team's season-ending banquet. The banquet will be DiMatteo's last after the veteran coach resigned Tuesday as Hinsdale Central's coach.

DiMatteo went 35-20 in five seasons with the Devils and missed the playoffs for the first time this year when Hinsdale Central lost its regular season finale to Proviso West, 44-20, to finish 4-5 on the season. DiMatteo led the Devils to the 2008 Class 8A state championship game, but the Devils lost to Maine South 41-21.

"I told the team this morning," DiMatteo said. "They have the right to know and I wanted to do it face to face like I should."

The demands of balancing coaching, family and a long-distance commute proved daunting. DiMatteo, an Advanced Placement European History and World History teacher, lives in Cary and faces an 80 mile round trip to school each day. Raymond DiMatteo will be a freshman at Cary-Grove next year and DiMatteo and his wife Melinda also have an 11-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. Both of his sons participate in football and wrestling and his daughter is involved in cheerleading.

"You never say never (about coaching again), but I don't know what to do in the future," said DiMatteo, who will remain as a teacher at Hinsdale Central. "I will concentrate on helping Hinsdale Central's next coach and teach the heck out of my classes."

"As usual, coach DiMatteo is a class act," Hinsdale Central Athletic Director Paul Moretta said in a statement. "He cares very deeply about this school and its kids. He will do everything he can to make sure they are not shortchanged by his departure."

DiMatteo is also working on a second master's degree.

Before coming to Hinsdale Central, DiMatteo coached six seasons and went 36-25 at Lake Zurich. He led the Bears to the 2002 Class 7A state semfinals before losing 41-18 to eventual state champion Prospect.

Moretta recently commented on the difficult situations coaches must deal with considering the demands of their job with family. In the summer, Moretta hired former St. Ignatius coach Tom McKenna to become Hinsdale Central's new girls basketball coach after Lindsey Montgomery resigned after one season due to family obligations.

"It's so hard to be a coach in high school right now," Moretta said. "It's almost an untenable situation for a coach to meet the expectations placed on them."

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