Neil McCauley
Class of 2000
Naperville North
Neil McCauley attended Oswego High School and graduated in 1961. He was a member of the 1960 squad coached by Hall of Famer Ken Pickerill that went undefeated. He is the third member of that squad to be inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame. He was a District Champion in 1961. Neil moved on to compete for Western Illinois University and placed 6th at the NAIA National Finals in 1965. He was the captain of the 1965 Leatherneck team. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1966 and his Master’s in Education degree from Northern Illinois University in 1970.
He began his teaching and coaching career at Naperville Central High School as
Physical Education teacher, assistant Football Coach, and assistant Wrestling Coach from 1965 through 1970. In 1970 Neil was named to serve as Department Chair for Health, Physical Education, and Drivers Education. He continued to serve as assistant Football Coach and assistant Wrestling Coach at Naperville Central. He moved to the newly opened Naperville North High School where he took over the head coaching duties and started the wrestling program at Naperville North in 1975. He held that position for two years before being named the Athletic Director at North in 1977. He holds that position at this time.
Neil has been very active during this period with the Illinois Athletic Directors Association serving on the Executive Board, District Representative, Conference Exhibit Chairman and NCSSAD Liaison. He has also served on the IHSA Boys Swimming Advisory Board and hosted IHSA State Tournaments in Boys Gymnastic and Boys Soccer. He has also served as DuPage Valley Conference Wrestling Chairperson from 1984 to the present. He has been an IHSA State Wrestling Tournament worker for the last ten years.
The Chicago Sun-times honored Naperville North as the “Most Successful Athletic Program- 1st Place” in 1992, “Most Successful Athletic Program-2nd Place” in 1993 and “Most Successful Athletic Program-3rd Place” in 1994.
In 1990 the IWCOA honored Neil as a “Friend of Wrestling” and in 1994 he was selected as Administrator of the Year.