Tyler Plantz left Notre Dame as a walk-on fullback, came home to Providence Catholic and helped turn the Celtics into a winner. Now he’s out of a job, and the part that hangs over all of it is how little sense the timing makes.
Providence Catholic fired Plantz on Saturday after he opened the season 4-0 and pushed the team to the top of the state’s Class 5A rankings. The Celtics were also sitting among the top five teams in Illinois’ Super 25. On the surface, it looked like the kind of start that buys a coach more time, not less.
Instead, the school announced a change with almost no detail. Athletic director Doug Ternick said, "Providence Catholic High School is announcing a transition in the leadership of its football program as we move in a new direction," and added, "The Celtics thank Coach Tyler Plantz for his time and service as head coach and for his commitment to our student-athletes and football program since 2022."
The firing is even more baffling when the broader picture comes into focus. Plantz led Providence Catholic to the Class 5A championship game last season, where the Celtics fell to St.
Francis. Over parts of five seasons, he went 35-19.
Plantz, a Providence Catholic graduate from the class of 2010, later played at Notre Dame and also worked on Brian Kelly’s staff with the Fighting Irish before returning to his alma mater as head coach. That made the job feel like a full-circle move - a chance to give back to the place that helped launch him.
But on Monday, Plantz said the school had not been straightforward about why it let him go. In a statement, he said the dismissal came after a sudden text message asking him to meet with the school’s president and pastoral director, Father John Merkelis.
“During our meeting for less than an hour, Father Merkelis informed me that other staff members had told him about a few disgruntled colleagues and a few football players’ parents. He cited problems with disorganization related to scheduling games for lower-level teams, which was not my responsibility. He also said he was not satisfied with how I managed college recruiting this year and structured lower-level practices,” Plantz wrote.
Plantz said Merkelis told him those were his “only concerns” and that he was then asked to resign. He declined, and the school fired him.
From the outside, the explanation still feels thin for a coach who had the program rolling. The school has said it is moving in a new direction, but beyond that, the reasons remain unclear.
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