Jim Ahern
Jim Ahern is the head football coach at Palmetto Ridge High School (FL), a position he assumed in 2004. Prior to that he spent 22 seasons as the head football coach at Ithaca High School (MI) (1972-2003). A 1968 graduate of Western Michigan, Ahern began his coaching career at Hackett High School in Kalamazoo, MI, under Hall of Fame coach Dick Soisson. He then worked under another Hall of Fame coach, Don Smeznic, at Gobles High School (MI). In his illustrious coaching career, he has received numerous coaching awards, including being named the state of Michigan’s Coach of the Year in 2002. A past president of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association, Ahern was inducted into that organization’s Hall of Fame in 1996. In addition, he is currently the president of the National Single Wing Coaches Association.
