Leaney to step down as Macalester women’s coach

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … John Leaney, who has won 529 games in more than 20 years of coaching at Macalester College, will retire at the end of the 2009 season so he can devote more time to raising his 4-year-old son Jack. Leaney’s wife Carrie passed away from cancer three years ago.

Leaney, who will be inducted into the Macalester M Club Athletic Hall of Fame later this month, came to the Division III Minnesota school as head men’s coach in 1986 and two years later took over the women’s program. The Scots won the NCAA Division III women’s national championship in 1998 and finished second the following year. He gave up his men’s coaching duties to concentrate on the women’s team in 2006.

“Raising a four-year-old requires a great deal of energy, as does coaching a college team full time,” said Leaney. “Right now, my son is the most important thing in my life and he deserves my undivided attention.”