Byrne ready for next phase in life’s journey after Windham football

Jack Byrne has always been about that next escapade in life.

Whether it was packing everything up for a three-year move to Colorado or returning East to help give birth to a new high school and its football program in Windham, Byrne has always searched for the next exciting move in his career and life.

This next adventure may not seem as exciting to outsiders, but to Byrne, it may just be the most thrilling decision yet. The 41-year-old Litchfield resident resigned as head coach of the Windham High School football team following the 2024 season to spend more quality time with his two children, Luke (10 years old) and Quinn (9), and wife, Amber.

“Halfway through the year I started thinking about stepping down,” Byrne said. “My children are in fourth and fifth grade and I’m watching how fast everything is going and how fast they are growing. I was evaluating the program and it is in a good spot. For the first time we have more than a hundred players in the program and I started thinking maybe this is the right time to at least start thinking about resigning.“

When Byrne finalized the decision it shocked his players, but they also fully understand the timing of their coach’s choice. Senior captains Matt Kabouris and Reid Lambert believe Byrne’s daily presence will be missed at practice and on the sidelines by his now former squad, but that the daily presence he’ll have at home is worth so much more.

“I was in complete shock. I think we all were,” said Kabouris of his teammates’ reaction during the group meeting at which Byrne broke the news. “Taking a step back and looking at the many valid reasons he gave, it went from shock to fully understanding his decision.

“He is the best coach I’ve had of all the coaches I’ve ever had. I was going to miss his life lessons and wisdom with graduation, but I feel bad for the underclassmen and other kids that would be joining the team over the next few years, that they won’t get to experience the mentorship and guidance I received from Coach. I’m happy for his family though. They are lucky to have more quality time with him.”

Lambert is still surprised, but knows his coach made the right decision for his family.

“He loves the game and is an awesome coach,” Lambert said. “It was awesome having him as a coach.

“It was definitely surprising that he stepped down, but I think it was for a good reason. He wants to spend more time with his kids. They’re at that age and he wants to be there for them and take care of them. I understand where he’s coming from.”

Byrne does admit that even though it is the right decision for him, it was still a very tough one due to the bonds created in the locker room and on the field. He’ll still have those connections in the classroom though.

Byrne isn’t leaving the school. He is keeping his teaching job in the human performance department, and will still have plenty of interaction with the underclassmen that no longer call him coach.

“It was really hard” Byrne said. “This wasn’t easy at all. This is the place that gave me my first shot as a teacher and head coach. I think back to the connections that were made, and I was at Windham before I was engaged. I was at Windham before I had kids. All that stuff, before we owned a house. All these things that are normal in my life now, I’ve been part of Windham High School through all of those stages in life. So yeah, it’s really hard.”

The biggest obstacle for Byrne was being a couple of towns over from where he works and coached.

“Obviously, it’s my dream job. I’ve said forever if we lived in the same town I’d be doing it forever,” he said. “It’s just enough that trying to balance two things, you know, two towns, it’s not really doable. I can’t have my kids take the bus to Windham High School and get dropped off and be there to help with the water and help at practice and stuff like that.

“That’s kind of my dream and if we were in the same town maybe that would have been possible. But they can’t do that. They’ve got their own friends and doing their own thing over here in Litchfield where we live. So it was a really tough call, but, I just know I want to spend more time with my wife and my children while they are young.

“That left me facing a reality on the football side of things that I couldn’t ignore. For this Windham program to compete with the teams we face each season, they really need someone who is there before school and after school all year. With my main focus being my family, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to commit to these hours anymore and felt it best to hand off the keys to somebody else.”

Byrne joined the staff of the program’s first head coach, Bill Raycraft, when the school and football program were founded in 2009. He filled the role of defensive coordinator for 10 years before eventually taking the reins as head coach when Raycraft stepped down in 2018.

During that assistant span, Byrne’s defensive schemes played a big role in the Jaguars’ success. Windham  won the Division II title in 2014, and was Division V runner-up in 2011 and in D2 in 2015. As head coach, Byrne’s Jaguars made the Division I playoffs three times – highlighted by the program’s first ever D1 playoff victory – an 8-7 first-round upset of Salem this fall.

Following a 14-6 loss to eventual D1-champion Pinkerton Academy in the quarterfinals, Byrne informed his players and made the decision public.

The news reached Raycraft quickly, as he has remained in contact with his former assistant and friend through the years.

“We got that program off the ground together from Day 1,” Raycraft said. “We built it with the understanding that we wanted to be the best we can be, and really not knowing how we were going to get there. But we figured it out together.

“The biggest thing I can say about Jack is that he had my complete trust. Early on as my defensive coordinator, and I was running the offense, we’d get together and he’s a mastermind when it comes to defense. He thinks outside the box. He’d be throwing things up on the board and I’d come back and say, ‘Well what about this, or if they do this? Where are we?’

“It got to the point that I didn’t even need to know his game plan. I just trusted he was going to have the guys in the right spot to make plays. That doesn’t always happen.”

Raycraft, who would take on the role of athletic director at Malden Catholic, brought in Matt Blair as his assistant athletic director. Blair worked alongside Raycraft and Byrne as a defensive backs/running backs coach at Windham from 2009-18.

“I’ve been through the grind with Jack and Bill,” said Blair, who included Byrne and Raycraft as groomsmen in his wedding party. “Jack has always been a great guy. Always big on character. His philosophy for defense was always geared on character and doing all the right things in life as well, which is kind of cool.”

Blair left Windham for a guidance counselor job at Pelham the same year Raycraft resigned. He knew who was next in line.

“When I learned that Bill was walking away from the head coaching job at Windham, it was a no-brainer that Jack should become the next head coach,” he said. “Jack was always very passionate about Windham football. He was always big about the offseason, the weight room, and he’s very well respected by the players, coaches and community. It was a no-brainer and proved to be a smooth transition from Bill to Jack.“

Byrne enjoyed every stop in his journey that always seems to involve football. He graduated from Tewksbury (Mass.) High School in 2001 and Tufts University in 2005 with a degree in psychology. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Bedford (Mass.) High School in 2005 before returning to his alma mater in Tewksbury for the 2006 season.

As 2007 approached, a friend asked Byrne if he wanted to move across country to live at a ski resort. Byrne didn’t hesitate. His friend backed out at the last minute, but Byrne was a hundred percent in on the move, and wound up in Colorado.

“I had just been in the Boston area my whole life,” Byrne said. “I just felt like I had some adventure in me so I was like ‘yeah I’m in.’ He didn’t go and I ended up going by myself and it was awesome. It was really scary and it was cool.”

Working as a massage therapist at a hotel to pay the bills, he added a teacher’s aide job at Summit High School in Breckenridge, Colo., to his resume, which then led to connecting with the football program there.

From 2007-09 he would serve as a defensive line coach at Summit.

“It was a really special thing to leave that chapter in Colorado,” Byrne said. “I was in my 20s and really adventurous. I was coaching out there and all over the place enjoying life out there.”

Then deciding he wanted to further his education in education, Byrne realized the mountain lifestyle wasn’t as conducive to furthering his goals. He’d have to commute to Denver for classes daily. That’s an 80-minute commute each way on a clear day. Forget when the snow is falling.

So for financial and practical reasons, coming home was the best option. He attended a combination of Salem (Mass.) State University and Plymouth State University to obtain his teaching degree.

He had flown in a few months prior to returning home for job interviews. One of those was at this new high school in Windham. Despite having an offer as a college football assistant in place at Wesleyan University, it was building a new program that stuck in his head and heart. He chose Windham.

Byrne was an assistant football coach that first year while working toward his teaching degree. He eventually landed a teaching gig at the high school and also would coach wrestling in his time at the school.

He has no plan to stop teaching in the school and his door is always open for students and the new coach if they need anything.

“I’m still in the building, I’m still willing to do any of the ground-level work that helps a program run,” Byrne said. “I’m absolutely going to give as much space to the new staff as they want. But if they ask me and there are things that having a teacher in the building can do, and they want me on staff as a volunteer during school hours then I’ll gladly do it.

“So I still think I can make a pretty big impact on the academic side of things for players, the strength training and speed training. I can still watch film and draw up scout cards – whatever they need – it’s just that I’m going to hold myself accountable and leave after school ends at least for this chapter in my life.”

A chapter that is officially dedicated to Amber, Luke and Quinn.

“That’s everything,” Byrne said about spending more time with the little ones, including coaching their youth sports. “The fact that I did it early enough where my kids are still excited to hang out with me gives me every answer I need. Because you see some people who say I just waited too long and now that window is shut. And it’s so important that they are still little. They’re just little enough where they want to hang out with dad, they’re not too cool for me yet. So that makes me feel good.”

It’s been a decade-long run of support from his household that he wants to return, especially to his wife.

“They have all been so supportive,” Byrne said of his family. “There’s been so many nights where as much as I’m trying to give them my full attention, you know, I also have film to breakdown and make sure that we’re doing everything right for the kids at Windham.

“You know, the amount of sacrifices my wife makes to deal with what it’s like to be married to a coach, it’s pretty exciting to think about giving her and my children all that energy now.”