Grosse Pointe North to celebrate longtime coaching duo’s retirement

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Grosse Pointe North High School will host a retirement party on June 7 for longtime cross-country and track head coach Diane Montgomery and assistant coach Joe Ciaravino.

The party will celebrate the impact and success of the duo that has been together at Grosse Pointe North for 15 years.

“I am really looking forward to catching up with some of my former athletes and their parents,” Montgomery said. “I think it will be a bit of a roller coaster as far as emotions.”

Montgomery has coached a combined 40 seasons of cross-country and track in her career. She’s been the Grosse Pointe North head coach of girls track for nine years and the head coach of boys cross-country for 15 years.

“I’m proud of being the first woman to coach a boys varsity sport (at Grosse Pointe North),” Montgomery said. “I hope that I have helped open doors for other female coaches to consider coaching boys teams.”

The legacy she leaves behind is one of a trailblazer and a winner. Montgomery was the 2017 Macomb Area Conference Red coach of the year and racked up multiple division and regional titles for both track and cross-country with North.

Aside from running, the coaching duo hopes that the athletes were able to learn a lot about mental strength. This was a key to their coaching philosophy and is something they hope students took with them.

“I always say, ‘You are stronger than you think you are,’ and ‘It’s just pain. You know pain. You are not afraid of pain,’” Montgomery said. “These strategies will serve them well through all struggles in life, not just running.”

Montgomery and Ciaravino got a lot out of the program. The two of them did it together at the same school for a long time, which is something you don’t see very often anymore.

“Hiring Joe Ciaravino as an assistant coach was one of the best decisions I have ever made,” Montgomery said. “As a team, I hope Joe and I leave a legacy of expecting excellence out of oneself and others.”

Ciaravino is retiring with Montgomery after being an assistant coach for the last 15 years in cross-country and 10 in track.

Ciaravino also brought home a coach of the year award in 2017, when he was named the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year. He was able to call on his experience as a Grosse Pointe North runner as a student who was on multiple state championship teams.

“We were state champions three of the four years that I was there,” Ciaravino said. “So coming out of that experience of excellence, it really ingrained in me the significance that running cross-country can have in a young person’s life.”

The retirement party itself is something that Ciaravino is looking forward to, as he also wants to celebrate the career of Montgomery just like everyone else.

“I’m very much looking forward to the celebration, specifically because coach Montgomery deserves the honor and the respect,” Ciaravino said. “To see this public honoring of her efforts really brings great joy to me.”

After retirement, the two will still support the program, as Montgomery is already planning on supporting the team at meets and hopes to keep the connections she has with the athletes for years to come.

“I will be sad to realize my coaching days are over, but happy to know I have impacted and inspired my former athletes,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think the full impact of retirement will hit me until the fall when cross-country season starts.”

The retirement party will be from 7-11 p.m. June 7 at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Café. RSVP at coopercc@comcast.net to attend and state if you will be attending alone or with friends and family. You can donate to defray the costs of the event via @MontyRetirement on Venmo or cash/check donations at the door. Any money raised beyond the party expenses will be donated back to the Grosse Pointe North track and cross-country programs.