UCLA Mourns the Passing of Bill McGovern
McGovern was UCLA's defensive coordinator last season.
The UCLA family lost one of its newer members this morning when Bill McGovern passed away from cancer at the age of 60.
The Mighty Bruin would like to offer our sincerest condolences to Coach McGovern’s family and friends.
While it was clear during football season, that Coach McGovern was having a health issue, it was only recently that it became public news that McGovern was fighting cancer. Coaches Chip Kelly and Tim Drevno recently participated in the Tour de Pier charity event where they raised $11,000 for the charity and wore shirts which said they were “Bikin’ for Billy.”
While the current members of the Bruin football team were the final football players to be coached by McGovern, I was one of the first players he coached.
That’s because Bill’s high school football coach was also my high school football coach — legendary NJ HS coach Tony Karcich. Coach Karcich coached McGovern when he played for the Bergen Catholic Crusaders, one of North Jersey’s powerhouse programs, but as McGovern was finishing up at Holy Cross, Coach Karcich traded in the Crusaders’ red and gold for the green and gold of the St. Joseph Regional Green Knights, my high school.
Coach Karcich had his work cut out for him. Before he arrived, St. Joe’s was awful. Part of the way he built the SJR program was by holding a summer football camp for incoming freshman. Into his first year at SJR, I was an incoming freshman.
Naturally, he asked Bill, who was one of his top players at BC, to come teach at his first camp and Bill, who was just starting his coaching career, was happy to help out.
Back in the summer of ‘85, Bill went by Billy. He had a full head of hair and the build of a collegiate defensive back because he had just wrapped his playing career at Holy Cross.
I don’t really remember much of Bill’s advice from that camp at this point. It was 38 years ago and, as a guy who would end up playing on the defensive line for SJR’s freshman team that year, I wasn’t playing a position where I would have had a whole lot of contact with Bill, but I remember him speaking to all of us who were there. He was there to help motivate us to excellence, after all.
After that short stint, Bill went on to a coaching career that included coaching at both the college and NFL levels.
I would have liked to have had a chance to connect with Bill and remind him of that camp so many years ago, but I never had that chance. After all, we both played for high school football teams under Coach Karcich, even if we played on opposite sides of the SJR-Bergen Catholic rivalry, which can be compared to the rivalry the Bruins have with the Trojans. Yeah, it was that bitter, and Bergen Catholic was in Bill’s blood. All of his brothers also graduated from Bergen Catholic.
I’m sure we could have swapped some stories from our side of that rivalry, even though we were a part of it during different times and on opposite sides.
Rest in peace, Bill.
Go Bruins.
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A great tribute. Thanks for sharing.
Awful news. Thank you for sharing your positive memories regarding Coach. May he rest in peace.