08/01/2026
WWR's Loss, Heaven's Gain
Another significant loss for our WWR community. The departure of Coach Joe Novak means he leaves us to cherish together the memories he provided us with. We mourn our loss, but we have much to recall and celebrate because of Joe Novak. He came to WWR on his first coaching job to coach and teach math. In those early years, he was part of the foundation of a brand new school and the beginning of a championship caliber program that Dick Strahm began in 1966 and carried throughout his tenure with us. When Coach Novak became the head coach in 1972, the program seemed to be teetering slightly because the 1971 squad had gone 8 - 2 with a loss to rival Harding being one of those. Uncertainty and doubt got erased with each successive victory and we all became believers as we marched our way to the first ever playoff state championship. All of it credit to the grit, determination and discipline embued on our team by Coach. He continued to motivate us and coach us to our best in 1973, and even though we came up just short of a consecutive title, it was a great two year accomplishment. One that would send Coach to other places to advance his career and his life. His was a long career that included siginificant seasons and more championships at various colleges and universities. His stops include, his own alma mater, Miami of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Northern Illinois(twice) where he built a championship program as a Hall of Fame head coach.
This one hits particularly close to home for me. So, please forgive my self-indulgence in writing this with such a personal tone.
If one ever wondered what a life well lived looks like, all one would need do is follow Coach Joe Novak around for about 48 hours. He will always be Coach to me, as he will to most who played for him. Despite his encouragement to call him Joe, I always told him his impact on my life, and so many others, required the expression of respect and admiration attached to such a wonderful term of endearment, and I wouldn't like myself much if I didn't always call him Coach. He would smile that smile, even chuckle a little and then promptly change the subject. No more words about him, always the query about me and my life and was there anything he could help with? Coach never really ever stopped coaching. A person could be 10 minutes into a conversation with him before the realization would hit, that he was coaching. He had the unique ability to coach you without you feeling you were being coached. As a young man, as he was considering career possibilities, one of his coaches told him not to go into coaching. He was too nice. That's easy to see if all one did was look at the surface. Coach wasn't a screamer. Didn't need to be. He had already won over your respect with his genuine care for you as a person. So, when you needed a coach's correction, all that was required was his firm tone and eye contact. In his eyes was reflected the fire that burned fiercely in his belly and when he spoke it was with a firmness of conviction that motivated a person to get the job done the right way. More than anything, more than his amazing list of on field accomplishments, which is long and impressive, to be sure, most important was his genuine concern to develop every player into a mature man capable of accomplishing anything chosen in life. In my life, one of the most important things to shape me as a young man, was going through the 1972 state championship and 1973 runner-up seasons and spending time together with Coach and the other quarterbacks in the quarterback room each week. I learned so much about life and how to be successful and I will always be indebted to him for that.
Over the past 24 hours, I've read tributes and received private messages about him from a long list of players, coaches, community leaders, and the common theme is the same, Coach didn't coach football, he coached life. Joe Novak was another in the long list of teachers and community leaders we were all blessed with as WWR students and members of our Westside community. He could motivate us to run through brick walls for him...because we knew, if given the chance, he would do the same for us. Godspeed Coach, until we meet again.
Respectfully written by George Powell - Warren Western Reserve High School class of 1974 graduate, WWR Raider #16 Quarterback, and proud member of the WWR Raider '72 State Champs & '73 Runners-Up
IN MEMORY OF
Coach Joseph Dennis Novak
April 19, 1945 - July 28, 2026
