Who You Know ... Mick Mcentyre

Newcastle Herald

Saturday October 28, 2006

Neil Jameson

At a time of life when most blokes would be scanning the fishing tackle catalogues or breaking out the lawn bowls, Mick McEntyre was starting a new career.

At 59, the career teacher, high school principal and footballer-cricketer was sliding his boots under the desk as recruitment and welfare manager at the Newcastle Knights.

He could just as easily been resting on his laurels. This year's Queen's Birthday Honours, in which he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), would have made a fitting exit point. Instead, he was starting a new job. His appointment in May completes a perfect circle in the working life of a professional educator who has been mentoring and managing young people for almost 40 years.

Educated at Lambton Primary, Jesmond High and Newcastle University, the bloodnut nicknamed Meggsy for his passing resemblance to Ginger Meggs, learned league as a Western Suburbs junior and cricket with Lambton-New Lambton. His office in the Knights compound is within jogging distance of the fields where he romped as a kid.

Teaching took him away, first to Coonamble where the newly qualified economics and geography teacher spent three years.

At the same time he started coaching footy sides and has never ceased. Wherever he was teaching he played league and cricket. Coaching boys in the bush put him in contact with tough kids attracted to the physical nature of rugby league.

"They can be rough and often unruly," he says, "not the sort to appeal to English teachers. But, having played a bit of sport, I've always had a positive view on young blokes. I knew what joy I got out of playing, so when I became a teacher, I wanted to provide that opportunity. The rapport that you engender through sport creates respect and that then gives you a chance to deliver guidance and values."

As a teacher and coach he has noted the seismic shifts in social values and family dynamics that have made the task of raising young people more challenging than ever.

"I grew up in an era when the traditional family unit was pretty much the norm," he says. "Now, the statistics show an increasing number of kids coming from single parent families. It usually means that there is no male on the scene. That makes it hard for those kids, particularly the boys. They may not have encountered a positive male role model until they are well into high school. So, the task of finding the right people to do that mentoring becomes very important."

From Coonamble he was posted to Newcastle Boys High before taking off overseas to teach in England and tour Europe. Then followed nine years at Taree and a couple at Raymond Terrace before a teacher exchange took him to Dumfries in Scotland. In 1991 he landed at Cessnock High as deputy principal. He stayed for nine years in what he describes as "a bit of an adventure".

In 1999 he became "the boss", appointed to Coonabarabran High as principal, a position he held until early this year when he applied for the Knights' job. This year brought the OAM, its citation reading: "For services to secondary education in NSW and school sport through the coaching of rugby league."

Running parallel to his career which included two trips to the UK on NSW Government Educational Fellowships was his coaching. Wherever he went Mick McEntyre coached the school league team and then the regional squad. From 1994 he took on the NSW Combined High Schools team, winning the Australian championships three times. From 2000 to 2002 he was head coach of the Australian Schoolboys team.

On his office wall hang photos of a few of those winning sides. They are distinguished by the names of boys who went on to professional careers. With them is a recent photo of his "Coona Kids", a bunch of boys from a bush school of 450 students. With Mick's help they achieved beyond all expectations, making the semi-finals of the state-wide University Shield.

Teaching, coaching, leading and travelling left time for little else. Not surprisingly, when it came to marriage and family, he wasn't exactly quick out of the blocks. The self-confessed late starter is now the father of two teenage girls one at uni, the other in high school.

As a father, he came ready-made with a lifetime of useful wisdom on families and kids.

"I think most kids are still aware of what the boundaries are," he says. "If you have a positive view, it is generally reciprocated. A positive view and a degree of flexibility and empathy overcome most difficulties."

Neil Jameson

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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