Creighton is leaving to become athletic director at Cheltenham. TIMES FILE PHOTO
For the last six years, John Creighton has worn so many hats at George Washington High School that he’d need to sprout more heads to accommodate them all.
Now, he’ll don just one, but it won’t be with the Eagles any longer.
Creighton, the head boys basketball and lacrosse coach at Washington, as well as an assistant soccer coach and a health and physical education teacher, is leaving GW to become the athletic director at Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Montgomery County. At just 36 years old, Creighton has had an inordinate amount of success on the hardwood and fields of play at Washington, but with his impending nuptials on Friday, combined with a career goal of one day becoming an athletic director, Creighton knew it was time to move on to the next chapter and challenge in his life.
It was the right decision, but it was still anything but easy.
“I had to look at the goals I had set forth for my career down the line, I just didn’t think it would happen this soon,” Creighton said. “I’m taking the chance and the leap. I’m prepared, but the unknown is always a little scary.”
The known for Creighton was Washington and the School District of Philadelphia. A graduate of Northeast High School, he comes from a family of athletes and coaches in the district, most notably his father, Jack, who was a coach and then athletic director at Frankford before retiring last year. The Creightons have put in a lot of time and dedication at Philadelphia public schools, and it certainly wasn’t easy for John to walk away from the coaching aspect that was so near and dear to his heart.
“It was tough to leave, just not easy at all,” he said. “It just lined up correctly for me. It was the right time. I’m getting married on Friday and am thinking about the future and my family, and this opportunity fit that. Had I not been offered this opportunity, I’d still be at Washington. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else if it wasn’t for an athletic director position. Washington was, and will continue to be, one of the best athletic departments in the city. It was professional, but we also laughed every single day and got along because we had similar philosophies in that we wanted to put teams out there that possessed dedication and accountability whether we won or lost. At a school as big as Washington, that kind of thing is hard to find.”
Creighton was never a guy to hang his hat on wins and losses, even if he won a lot more than he was defeated. After two seasons as an assistant football coach under Ron Cohen, Creighton worked directly alongside head soccer coach (and fellow health and physical education instructor) Chris Reid with the very successful Washington varsity program, while also serving as the head coach of the JV level.
“He’s going to be missed tremendously,” Reid said. “John is just a great, great person. He holds his kids to a standard beyond just the athletic aspect. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t follow the rules, you don’t play, and John’s kids really bought into that. Of course, everyone likes to win, but he was more about teaching them to be young men that needed to grow up and focus on getting into college to continue their education. He leads with authority and sets a great example.”
Beyond soccer, Creighton also spent the last three years as Washington’s head basketball coach. The school is certainly known for its athletic prowess over the years — most notably on the football field — but Washington was never really mistaken for a basketball powerhouse. While that may still be the case, the perception changed under Creighton; in three seasons, he won 48 games stacked against 23 losses, qualifying for the postseason each year. This past season, Creighton led the Eagles all the way to the Class AAAA title game, where the team came up just short against defending champion King. Leading scorer Charles Brown is bound for St. Joseph’s University to play basketball for Phil Martelli, a goal Creighton helped him achieve.
“I’m not sure GW ever had a week in basketball where we went on the road in the same week and beat teams like Chester and St. Joe’s Prep, as we did this past season,” Creighton said. “The kids worked so hard and there were no excuses. They held themselves accountable and a lot of those players are using their athletic talents to continue their education, which was my goal all along.”
And of course, there’s Creighton’s baby, the Washington lacrosse program. He’s been at the helm since the program’s inception, and has cultivated interest in a sport usually saved for the suburbs. Creighton won two Public League lacrosse titles, including this past season over Frankford for the first championship since 2010. Creighton also had the pleasure of going out a winner with his father alongside as an assistant lacrosse coach.
“It was an experience I never expected to have, and it gave me a really good feeling that I could be there helping John when he needed it,” Jack Creighton said.
As far as if John is ready to be an athletic director, his father, the former Frankford AD, said, “He’s ready, that’s for sure. He’s incredibly organized and has the educational background that he should do well. He’s certainly going to miss the coaching aspect; I know I did, but he is ready for it. And he knows if he has any questions, all he has to do is ask. I’ll enjoy helping him when he needs it, but I don’t think he’ll need me.”
Ken Geiser, the current athletic director at Washington who has worked closely with John Creighton for the last six years admitted he and the school would have some big shoes to fill.
“He’s the best physical education teacher I’ve ever been around,” Geiser said. “He’s a phenomenal teacher and a phenomenal coach. We’ll miss him, but I don’t doubt for a minute that he’s going to be successful at Cheltenham. Beyond wins and losses, he’s just a ‘kids guy’ as a coach and a teacher. He gave back a lot to the kids with his time and energy, and it paid off. We got along exceptionally on both a professional and personal basis. He was demanding of his kids and he came in my office every day to talk this or that, always with the good of our department and Washington in mind.”
Following his wedding on Friday and subsequent honeymoon in Belize (he is not allowed to bring any busy work on the trip, per his bride-to-be’s rules), Creighton will dive into his new gig. But of course, he will miss everything about Washington, from the three sports he coached, to his kids and classes, the relationships he forged with colleagues and especially his time working with the Washington special education department, with whom he had a big role as a coach and mentor for the Special Olympics.
All of his memories of Washington seemed to be positive, and he will carry those experiences into the next step.
“Every chance I have to schedule a non-league game between Washington and Cheltenham, I will,” he said. “I wouldn’t be successful without the help of the great people I have around me, which includes the teachers, assistant coaches and the kids. Having that close circle of people around me to bounce ideas off of, that’s what prepared me to be an athletic director.
“After the last lacrosse game (a 16–2 loss in the city title game to St. Joe’s Prep), my players formed a single file line to each thank me individually. That is the best thing a coach can ask for, by far. They cared more about thanking me than losing the city championship, and it really hit a nerve in a positive way. We had set out to do something right, and we did. For me, that was the icing on the cake.” ••
Closed chapter: John Creighton has been at George Washington for the last six years as a health and physical education teacher, as well as serving as the boys basketball and lacrosse head coach. He went 48–23 in three seasons on the hardwood, and won a league lacrosse title in his final season. TIMES FILE PHOTO
