Michael Troll, known to most as Coach Troll, has reached the end of his time here at U-High after 16 years.

Troll wasn’t only a teacher and coach for football and wrestling, he was also a friend to many faculty members and students.

“Seeing some of my old students will always be special,” Troll said.

He loved creating memories with his current students, but said his favorite times are when graduated students come back to visit. Troll said he enjoys hearing about their successes and what their lives are like now.

“There is simply too many of my favorite memories,” Troll said.

Troll was the freshman football coach for four years, and worked his way up to become the football coach of the varsity team from 2006-2018. He went back and forth to the freshman team in those years. He said he enjoyed taking the varsity team to state and beating Mahomet for the conference championship in 2014.

“I’m definitely going to miss the interactions with the kids and students the most,” Troll said.

During retirement, Troll hopes to finish building his cabin that’s located “on a timber,” and he plans to go hunting and fishing, and to finish his wife’s “honey-do” list.

“I sure won’t miss the grading,” Troll said.

While Troll may be ready to leave the grading behind, some people are dreading his time coming to an end.

Steve Evans, the assistant principal, has known Troll since he was his high school football coach at Olympia High School.

“Troll has impacted my life in many ways, at a professional and personal level,” Evans said.

Evans added that Troll taught him to be hard working. Troll was the one who notified Evans that the biology teacher position had opened at U-High in 2006.

“He helped me learn that hard work will get you through life, plain and simple” Evans said.

Troll has a special bond with many of his students, one of those students being Taylor Patkunas. Taylor said Troll creates an environment that allows them to speak freely and be themselves.

“I say a lot of dumb stuff in his class and he lets me and just laughs along with me,” Patkunas said.

She will miss being able to joke around with him and seeing pictures of him with hair, especially the blonde.

Troll is leaving a lasting impact on faculty, students, and teams are with them forever. As he so often said to students departing his classroom, U-High sure will miss that yadahoodle.

*Correction: This story originally published that Steve Evans and Mike Troll worked at Cartersville High School. This was corrected to Olympia High School on 4/18/2019.