Every young football player in the New York Metropolitan area dreams of playing for or coaching for the local NFL teams.
That was an ambition of former UConn running back Jon Wholley, who has bounced around the college coaching circuit before landing his current job as the head coach of Avon Old Farms, a boys boarding school which is located just west of Hartford.
“I always dreamed to be the head coach of UConn or Notre Dame or the New York Giants,” Wholley told CT Insider. “This has become that for me. I’m not driven to have status. I’m driven to have success for my family and my players, and I’ve had a lot of experiences that benefit the kids I’m coaching. I’ve been through a lot of what they want to get through.
“My goal is to help every kid — if they’re good enough to play JV, or if they’re good enough to play at Alabama. I want them to have the skills for success over not just the next four years, but the next 40.”
Wholley was a walk-on running back at UConn and then served as an assistant coach there on three separate occasions. He also worked on the staffs at Central Connecticut, Fordham and Mississippi State.
Why would a guy who could easily land a job at a higher level decide to take job on the high school level you ask? The answer is simple.
“I enjoy it because it’s teaching,” Wholley said. “In some ways it’s more challenging because in college, your test is practice that day. You don’t ever leave the classroom going, I wonder if that kid got it? They’re going to tell you within two hours because it’s going to show on the field.”
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