New coach for North Shore Tech baseball

March 27, 2007 01:29 pm

— MIDDLETON | When the North Shore Tech baseball team takes the diamond this spring to defend its Commonwealth Conference championship, it'll do so with a new | yet familiar | face calling the shots.
Former assistant coach John Delaney takes over the head coaching job from Paul Worth, who gave up his duties last month.
A former Lawrence resident who now calls Methuen home, Delaney was a coach in the system under Worth for several years. He has also served as an assistant coach in both football and basketball for the Bulldogs and is familiar with many of the team's players and their skills.
"John has a really good demeanor with the kids and a very strong knowledge of the game," said North Shore Tech athletic director John Lynch. "It was his time for him to get his first head coaching position."
Delaney had a distinguished playing career, having starred at Andover High School before taking his talents to Northern Essex Community College, then UMass Lowell.
His first coaching position was as an assistant freshman football coach at Lawrence High in 1989. The following year, he was on the sidelines at Greater Lawerence Tech, where he met Rick Gardella. It was Gardella who turned him on to the Bulldogs' athletic program.
"Rick and I are good friends. We coached together at Greater Lawrence for 13 years," Delaney said. "He got a teaching job at North Shore, and that's how I heard about the school."
Being involved with Bulldogs' athletics for the past four years has allowed Delaney to get to know the student-athletes at North Shore.
"It's been a pleasure to coach the kids there," he said. "They're hard working kids that give a maximum effort in practice and games. They have a good mental toughness that I connect with."
Delaney is an assistant supervisor for a claims department that insures state workers in Andover. His current job is flexible, which will help when it comes to coaching his team this spring.
The Bulldogs will open the season April 11 against league foe Chelsea.
— Staff writer Richard Slate