THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Cronnelly's journey leads him to IHSAA Hall of Fame

One morning in April, Tim Cronnelly went online to watch the Idaho High School Activities Association’s board of control meeting. 

The former Timberlake High athletic director, who retired in 2022, was hired to be part of the IHSAA’s new AD mentor program beginning this fall, and he thought he might hear more about that program during the meeting. 

Then he heard his name.  

The IHSAA was announcing the names of three people the group was going to induct into its hall of fame on Aug. 4 in Boise. 

One of those names was Tim Cronnelly. 

“Honestly, I was just shocked,” Cronnelly said recently. “Not in a million years did I think something like that would ever happen ... It’s quite an honor.” 

Cronnelly spent more than 30 years in education, starting in Baker, Mont., and including stops at Horseshoe Bend and Cascade in Idaho. 

He came to Timberlake in 2003, and the next year was named athletic director. He held that role for 12 years, then went to Lakeland as AD for two years. He then returned to Timberlake to teach, but eventually served as athletic director his final two years.  

“Tim’s just a legend, when it comes to doing what’s best for kids,” said Catey Walton, who succeeded Cronnelly as AD, and nominated him for the IHSAA Hall of Fame. “Tim was a huge mentor to me (when I took over). The year before, I walked beside Tim and watched him ... went to the IHSAA meetings. He just took me under his wing and taught me everything I needed to know as a beginning AD.”

IT WAS the other two names announced as hall of famers that Cronnelly thought was “really cool.” 

Bob Ranells, who was Wallace School District superintendent for 14 years, was working in District 3 when Cronnelly coached at Horseshoe Bend and Cascade.  

“He was the principal at Nampa, and super at Rimrock School District,” Cronnelly recalled. “He officiated our basketball games, and was our track starter. ... and a football official. 

“And when he came up here (to District 1) I told (Timberlake track and field coach Brian) Kluss, ‘we’ve got our starter. We don’t have to look for a starter anymore.’” 

And Ted Reynolds, the former Bonners Ferry High football coach and athletic director, went on to administrative jobs at Middleton, Twin Falls, Ridgevue and Canyon Ridge. 

“We grew up in Butte (Mont.), probably about three blocks from each other,” Cronnelly said. “He was a year younger than me, but we went through different schools all the way through (because of where the school boundaries were), so I didn’t know him until I came here. Turns out his cousin is one of my best friends.”  

Cronnelly went to Butte Central High, Reynolds to Butte High.  

BORN AND raised in Butte, Cronnelly played football, basketball and track at Butte Central, then attended Montana State in Bozeman. 

His first job after graduation was in Baker, Mont., on the North Dakota border, where he was an assistant coach in football, basketball and junior high track. 

Then he got married to Julie, and they recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary. 

They moved to the Portland area, where Julie's parents lived. Julie has worked mostly in the accounting field. 

Tim's plan was to do some coaching, but it was discovered he didn't have a teaching certificate, and it was going to take some time to get one. 

"So I just job hunting, and got accepted into the Fred Meyer management training program," Tim said.  

("What's on your list today?") 

After he finished the program, though, Tim decided he wanted to get back into education. 

They moved to Idaho, where Tim landed a job at Horseshoe Bend, some 20 miles north of Boise. 

Horseshoe Bend was just adding a high school, and started a football program the following year. 

Cronnelly was head track coach, and helped coach football, and was head football coach for a couple years at the end of his eight-year stint at Horseshoe Bend. He was also girls basketball coach for a year. 

Before the high school was added, after ninth grade Horseshoe Bend kids either went to high school in Emmett, 15 miles to the west, or Garden Valley, 25 miles northeast. 

At Horseshoe Bend, Cronnelly got to know Jim Simpson, a longtime boys basketball coach at Cascade, and eventually joined him at Cascade, where Cronnelly coached football, basketball and track for five years. 

(Years later, Cronnelly hired Simpson as boys basketball coach at Timberlake). 

By that time, Julie's parents had moved back to western Montana, and Tim's family was in western Montana, so they wanted to move closer to them. 

In 2003, a job opened up for Tim at Timberlake, teaching social studies, American government and economics. 

"When we moved up here, we didn’t know anybody, Tim recalled. 

"Rented a place for a year, built a house in Spirit Lake, and off we went.  

"Timberlake was so good; schools were so good for our (three) kids," Tim said. 

Cronnelly coached football for one year under Roy Albertson, as freshman coach. 

The next year, Timberlake Middle School was built nearby— before that, the middle school and high school were in the same building.  

Opening a new building caused a shift in administrators — including the Timberlake athletic director at the time, Ted Mecham, becoming a vice principal at the school. 

Cronnelly became AD at Timberlake, a job he would hold for 12 years. The job was half-teaching, half athletic director, but if you know how many hours an AD puts in ... 

When Trent Derrick transitioned from athletic director to principal at Lakeland High, Cronnelly became AD (a full-time job) at Lakeland for two years. 

Then Cronnelly came back to Timberlake and taught for two years. 

"That was kind of my plan," he said. "I started as a teacher, I wanted to end as a teacher." 

But when Simpson, who had replaced Cronnelly as AD and worked in that role for four years, retired, Cronnelly expressed interest in becoming AD again. 

After interviewing with the coaches, many of whom he had hired — "that was kinda weird," he said — Cronnelly was AD for two years at Timberlake (it was now a full-time AD job) before retiring in 2022. 

CRONNELLY, WHO has been named athletic director of the year in his school's classification four times, will be one of a handful of AD mentors statewide. Each will work with the young ADs in their area, offering guidance and wisdom and experience to those who may not have anyone in the building who has the time and/or knowledge to help. 

"I was lucky," Cronnelly said. "I had Will Havercroft (AD at Lakeland) and Larry (Schwenke, Coeur d'Alene) and Craig (Christensen, Post Falls) and Jim Winger (Lake City) and Todd Gilkey (Coeur d'Alene)." 

When Cronnelly was at Cascade, he coached basketball with Gene Novotny, who was Cascade School District superintendent for 33 years. 

"He said, 'I got an easy job; I just make decisions that are best for kids. And I’ve got to hold myself to it, because it gets you in trouble sometimes with adults,'" Cronnelly said. 

"There’s a balance," he added. "There’s a lot of times it’d have been nice to have an extra night in a hotel, or have a nicer bus, or whatever. One thing adults forget is how resilient kids are. They just want to play. We do the best we can with our money.  

"Another thing is supporting our coaches. And I think that, in so many cases, is what’s best for kids. I can think of every coach we’ve ever hired, that somebody wanted me to get rid of them.  

"So many times the best thing for kids is to have a stable of coaches who are in the building and care for kids. That was, in my opinion, the biggest thing that we did, we just supported those good coaches." 

IT SAYS above that Cronnelly retired in 2022.  

Sort of.  

Go to a Timberlake football game, and you might see him working on the chain gang.  

Or you might see him helping out at a track meet, or cross country meet.  

Last year, he got the itch to return to coaching. Timberlake girls basketball coach Matt Miller, whom Cronnelly hired some two decades ago, hired his former AD as an assistant girls basketball coach.  

When Walton received the application from Cronnelly, she forwarded it to Miller.  

Miller's quick response:  

"I say we hire the old man."  

"It was great," Cronnelly said of coaching with Miller. "It’s kinda weird ... as an AD I’d sit and watch practices ... but then to coach with him was just amazing. He does such a good job, just works so hard, so passionate and so knowledgeable. We had a lot of fun. I’m glad I did it. I’m going to do it again." 

BESIDES, CRONNELLY still has some time on his hands. Julie is still working, though retirement is near. 

When they can, they visit their three children — Brian, who lives in Spokane; Bob, who lives in Tillamook, Ore. (Tim has a standing order to bring home some cheese for a co-worker); and Colleen lives in Philadelphia.  

As a former coach-turned-AD, he learned early on to hire great coaches — then get out of their way. 

"I had a standard line, 'If you ask, I’ll answer, but keep in mind, you’re the one that’s at practice every day,'" Cronnelly said. "I’ve never offered advice to them on how to coach their teams.  

That was their job.   

"And I know from coaching, there’s a lot of nights you’re laying there, staring at the ceiling. You don’t need the AD telling you what you’re going to call on third down." 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.