By Molly Mueller
Executive Online Sports Editor 
Earlier this year, P.E. teacher, head boys’ track coach and defensive coordinator Mike Kamedula announced he will not be returning to Prospect next fall. Instead, Kamedula took a position teaching P.E. and coaching boys’ track and football at a fellow District 214 school, Wheeling High School.
Kamedula has been a teacher at Prospect for 13 years along with being a football coach for 17 years and the track and field coach for 14 years. According to Kamedula, he is leaving Prospect so he can be in a different environment.
“I need a change, and it’s nothing to do with anything,” Kamedula said. “I love it here, but I can’t see myself staying here. I have probably about 20 years left, and I can’t imagine staying in one place for 20 more years. I don’t think I’ll stay [at Wheeling] unless I have to for 20 years. I’ve never stayed at a place this long. I need a change of scenery. I think it’s good for me as an educator to move, get a different perspective, a different view. I think it keeps you fresh. That’s really it. There was an opening that was attractive to me, so I took it.”
Social sciences teacher and football special teams coordinator Frank Mirandola stepped up to replace Kamedula as head boys’ track coach.
“I think it’s a great move,” Kamedula said. “I think [Mirandola] is great for kids. Track is a tough sport. There aren’t a lot of people that can coach it, so [with] the fact that he’s already a great coach and he’s a teacher in this building, I think it’s the best move we could have made.”
Mirandola has been a football coach for 12 years and has worked in various positions in the football program, including varsity defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, linebacker coach and sophomore head coach. Mirandola hopes to use his experience in football to help lead the track team.
“It’s pretty much one in the same,” Mirandola said. “It’s how to go ahead and motivate student-athletes to train effectively, whether it be speed training or strength training, but also have a fearless pursuit of their goals. That’s the most important thing, to go ahead and say ‘this is what I’m capable of, and I need to go ahead and approach it with a fearless mindset.”
While Mirandola isn’t making any big changes to the boys’ track program, he is bringing in a new mentality to the sport.
“My everything-to-win philosophy is all about the fearless pursuit of your goals and putting forth effort necessary to accomplish those goals,” Mirandola said. “You realize that by going ahead and having that fearless pursuit, you’re going to go ahead… and accomplish a lot more than you thought so prior.”
Along with a new mentality, Mirandola plans on using his background in speed and strength training to further the team’s tradition of success.
“Ultimately, it’s not my responsibility to go ahead and win division titles,” Mirandola. “It’s my responsibility to get student-athletes to perform at their best level possible, and whether that’s in in the form of division championships, conference championships or sectional championships, that’s what’s it’s all about.”