Chuck Lenahan
Plymouth High School
Impact Statement
“He finds a way to get the most out of his players and coaches each year without changing his approach to the game. It’s all about consistency.” T. Donahue, asst. coach
Biography
Lenahan, who is completing his 41st year at Plymouth as football coach and athletic director, built the Bobcats into a small-school football powerhouse. Under his guidance, Plymouth has won 18 Division 3 and 4 state titles, most recently in 2009, and he is the state’s all-time leading winner with a 334-69-1 record.
Last fall, Plymouth finished 9-2 and second in state – the Bobcats’ 11th runner-up finish in Lenahan’s tenure – and his teams have compiled 12 unbeaten seasons. Lenahan’s teams dominated the decade of the 2000s as few programs have anywhere. From 1997 through 2009, Plymouth finished 136-5 and won 12 state titles, and the run included two lengthy winning streaks.
After winning 46 straight from 2000-04 – then a state record – the Bobcats shattered that record following a 2004 loss. Plymouth won its next 57 games, a streak that ended in 2010. Three Plymouth senior classes in the decade – 2003, 2008 and 2009 – won every game in their four years on the varsity. The National Federation of State High School Associations honored Lenahan as its National Coach of the Year in 2005.
Lenahan retired at the completion of the 2013 season after 43 years at the helm as the winningest coach in New England. He led his team to their 20th State Championship, just the cherry on the top.
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