WOODSFIELD — John Ischy was perfectly content teaching and coaching at Monroe Central High School.

At the same time, however, he’s never been one to let an opportunity pass him by.

When Ryan Rosnick resigned last month as the Athletics Director at Monroe to accept the same position at Barnesville, Ischy immediately knew that was something he’d like to pursue.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” Ischy said.

The opportunity became his job earlier this week during a special meeting of the Switzerland of Ohio Local School District Board of Education where Ischy was formally approved for the position.

“I feel lucky and blessed that the school district thought enough of me to hire me for the position,” Ischy said. “I’ve been working the last couple of weeks (even before being hired) to keep things afloat for the fall season, doing what I could.”

Rosnick’s contract expired a few weeks back and he’s formally started at Barnesville where he replaced Mark Cook, who set off this spiral when he accepted the A.D. position at Martins Ferry.

“I remember both Ryan and I were surprised when he saw that Mark Cook had surprised, but at that point Ryan wasn’t sure if that was something he was going to pursue,” Ischy said. “As the summer went on, the rumors started and then he got the job.”

Up until his contract expired, Rosnick had been pulling double duty between the Seminoles and Shamrocks.

“Ryan left things in pretty good shape,” Ischy said. “There are still a lot of little things that need to be done and I’m just trying to get loose ends up tied before fall sports get started.”

Ischy, who is the defensive coordinator for the Seminoles’ football team, has been pulling some long days as the transition unfolds.

“I don’t think there’s been a night this week when I’ve been home before 8 o’clock,” Ischy said. “Getting named to this job so late is tough because there’s so much learn, but I always go into something expecting things to be the worst and then they’ll get easier.”

A 1997 graduate of River High School, Ischy went to Capital out of high school to play football. He finished his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Ohio University and Grand Canyon University, respectively, just five years ago at the urging of his wife after he had expressed frustration in the career he had held.

“About seven years ago, I was at a crossroads employment wise,” Ischy said. “I had been looking for an opportunity to do something diferent and my wife (Jessica) encouraged me to go back to school, so I finished my bachelor’s and went right into my master’s program.”

From there, Ischy landed a job in the Switzerland of Ohio School District immediately. He was hired as at Woodsfield Elementary where he spent a year and then moved to the high school where he’s spent the last four years.

Ischy will remain in the classroom this school year, too. He’s actually going to be teaching a new program with work training for special needs students.

“I don’t care what the challenge is,” Ischy said. “I embrace it.”

Along with his teaching and A.D. duties, Ischy will remain a member of the Seminoles’ football staff, working for his younger brother, Josh. He will step aside from his assistant coaching job with the boys basketball team.

“I’ve been on the football staff for five years and my plan is to keep (coaching) as long as Josh coaches,” Ischy said.

Obviously, an A.D.’s duties are plentiful on game night, but Ischy indicated the school will hire — in essence — a game-day facility manager to oversee things while he’s coaching.

“The administration is helping me, but I am a pre planner and will have everything set up and ready to go for game nights,” Ischy said. “But, when it’s time for pre-game (warmups), I can focus just on coaching. I am grateful to the administration for that.”

As for Monroe Central, Ischy is taking over a program on solid footing. But, Ischy’s initial focus is working to “get the pride back into the kids for all sports.”

“One of the big things this year that we’re working on as a school is embracing the challenge,” Ischy said. “We don’t just want our kids to be OK. We want them to be the best and excel. We want Monroe Central to be the flagship school for the county.”

Ischy said the work on the new physical fitness building at the high school, which had been in the plans for the last couple of years, is under way.

“It’s going to be a great thing for all of our kids when it’s complete,” Ischy said.

Monroe Central will begin play in the newly founded Mid Ohio Valley League this fall as well. That’s a league that Ischy is very high on.

“Obviously, the PVC is kind of a legacy thing here at Monroe, but it grew time that we had to look elsewhere and make an obvious move,” Ischy said. “The teams in the new league are a perfect fit for us and they’re mostly teams we’ve played for a long time anyway, so it’s going to be great for our kids overall.”

John and his wife, Jessica, have been married for 15 years. The couple has two children — Daniel (8) and Jaedyn (6).