Dave Oertner had been considering retirement for a few years.

But when you do something as long and successfully as Oertner has, it’s a difficult decision to make.

A few weeks ago, however, Oertner finally made it official.

After 39 years, and well over 1,000 victories as the Bulldogs’ head cross-country coach, Oertner made the decision to step down.

“I thought I would work through it,” said Oertner, about his internal struggle with thoughts of retirement. “I thought it was just a phase and I would get through it. But I think it is just not fair to the kids. As a coach, every year you get excited about the upcoming season, but the last couple of years that excitement wasn’t quite there.

“It’s time. I’m looking at retiring in the next year or two from teaching and moving on. You just have to move on. It’s somebody else’s time to take over.”

Oertner has been a mainstay over the years within Bulldogs’ varsity sports programs, coaching cross-country, track and field, and basketball (boys and girls).

Not surprisingly, they were the same three sports that the Slatington High School class of 1978 graduate participated in during his years as a Bulldog.

Oertner’s long journey as a teacher and coach at Northern Lehigh began when he was hired as a science teacher in the high school in 1982.

“Too be honest with you, I always wanted to coach basketball – that was my love,” Oertner said. “But when you are a rookie teacher, you will do anything they tell you to do and they asked me if I would coach cross-country. So I took the cross-country job, enjoyed it and stayed with it all these years.”

In time, Oertner did receive his chance to coach Bulldog basketball, serving as the boys’ head coach for 10 years back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

After stepping away from basketball for a time, Oertner found himself back on the sidelines as the girls’ head coach in the early 2000s, where he was given the prime opportunity any parent could only dream of - coaching his daughters Lauren and Aimee when it was their turn as varsity basketball players.

“That’s an experience most people don’t get,” Oertner said. “Some people do it at the lower level in booster club sports where they coach their own kids, but to get the opportunity at the high school level was extremely rewarding, and memorable. You have to be careful because there’s a lot of nepotism, and you have to avoid that the best you can. It’s hard to do that. But I was probably a lot tougher on my kids than I was on everybody else’s kids. As a matter of a fact, I am sure I was tougher on my own kids.

“I was harder on them, but by the same token, it was an experience that I got to spend more time with my kids than almost any other father gets to spend with his. I taught them in class. I coached them. It was a great experience.”

That bond with his daughters that was strengthened through sports is one of the reasons that Oertner stepped down as cross-country coach.

“Now, my daughters are all over the country,” he said. “I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like. I’d like to free up some time to see them more.”

In all, Oertner coached basketball for 22 seasons at Northern Lehigh - 10 years as the boys’ varsity head coach, six years as the girls varsity head coach, and recently six years as the freshmen boys’ basketball coach to help friend Jeff Miller, who stepped down as the boys varsity head coach last season.

The one sport that Oertner still hasn’t retired from coaching is track and field. having served as a Bulldog assistant in the sport for the last 36 years. Between the four sports, Oertner has been involved with Northern Lehigh Athletics for quite some time.

“I have 97 seasons behind me right now once you add them all up,” chuckled Oertner. “At one time, I had the idea of getting 100 seasons in, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen now.

“If I decide to stick around for a couple more years of track, that would be a nice number to reach. But I don’t know yet. I was thinking about it, but I don’t know if I will get there.”

One thing that might prevent it is Oertner wanting to free up even more time so he can spend it with his adult children and his very first grandchild, who is the newborn of Aimee and her husband, Josh. Aimee is a Captain for the United States Army. They’re stationed currently at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

His oldest daughter Lauren is a speech pathologist in Rapid City, South Dakota, and her husband, Ryan McEwen, is in the Air Force. Oertner’s youngest child, Andy, still resides in the Lehigh Valley where he is an Emergency Room Nurse.

“At the moment, they’re all over the place,” Oertner said. “It’s tough to see them. I see my son often because he is still in the area. But my daughters are in different states. So one reason I wanted to retire as cross-country coach is so I’m able to do things like that, and have that time to be able to travel to see my children or have them home here in Pennsylvania.”

Although Oertner said he knew the time was finally right to step down as the Bulldogs cross-country coach, it wasn’t easy stepping away from something that’s been such a huge part of his life.

“There’s a long list of people who have helped me along the way during almost four decades of coaching,” said Oertner. “But without Dick Smith, who was our AD back then, none of this would have happened.

“I also want to thank all the people that I ran into along the way. My athletes, because without them, you have nothing. It was a great experience. It’s one you just won’t forget – ever. But as they say, it’s time to move on to new challenges.”