‘He made a difference’: Family mourns Olathe North football coach
Tiffany Dirks was a trainer for Pittburg State’s football team when she met Josh Dirks, a lineman who towered over people.
But the 6-foot-6-inch man was not anything off the field like he was on it.
“He was a nice guy, very friend, laid back,” Tiffany Dirks, 41, said in a phone interview. “But on the field (he) was just an animal and he was fun to watch play.”
Josh Dirks, 39, was hospitalized for more than 40 days with pneumonia. He is on life support and his organs will be donated. Surgery is planned for later Friday or Saturday.
“We are devastated because he left a hole that can never be filled in our family, in the schools and the teams that he coached,” Tiffany Dirks said. “He made a difference.”
Josh Dirks was an offensive line coach for Olathe North High School, a position he had held since 2020. Olathe North will honor him and his family before their game Friday night.
Coaching was one of Josh Dirks’ passions. He got into coaching because of his wife, watching her coach volleyball, basketball and track. Josh Dirks saw the passion she had for her job. He also missed football. So he decided to go back to Pitt State get his master’s degree in teaching and coaching.
“I was his role model,” Tiffany Dirks said. “He just wanted to be like me.”
Josh Dirks became a head coach in 2009 for Jasper High School in Japser, Missouri, leading the team to an 8-3 record in his first season as a coach. It was the most wins Jasper had had in their previous four seasons combined.
“It was phenomenal to watch that season,” his wife said. “He had other successful seasons but that one was just, you saw the passion in Josh and the love he had for the game and the love he has for those kids.”
Josh Dirks stepped down as Jasper’s coach after three seasons. But that job made Tiffany Dirks aware of how different Josh was as a coach. He always put her and their kids — three daughters and a son — over everything.
“He made sure the administrators knew it, the parents knew it and the team knew it,” Tiffany said. “They respected and admired him because of that.”
After every football game, football coaches normally stay up late, either watching the game’s film or hanging out with other coaches on staff. But not Josh Dirks. The game would end and he would make sure his responsibilities were taken care of, then he would be back at home.
“When I needed something and I needed him there, football stopped and family was his number one situation and this was every single Friday night after games,” Tiffany Dirks said.
She’d often ask him, ‘”Josh aren’t you going to get in trouble?”
“I don’t care,” she’d recall him saying.
Josh Dirks loved his kids — they were his pride and joy. He was a Christian, who was a role model that his kids could live up to.
“He showed his kids a love of Jesus every day of their life,” Tiffany Dirks said. “We know it’s not a goodbye to Josh, it’s ‘See you again soon.’”
Tiffany has been appreciative of all the support she’s received, not just in the past day (she had over 100 text messages, 30 emails and eight missed calls when she woke up Friday morning), but in the 43 days her husband has been in the hospital. The Olathe community helped them over six weeks, including sending food to the family.
“I don’t even know who it’s coming from,” Tiffany Dirks said. “Their kindness and hospitality, we can never repay them.”
A GoFundMe has also been started for the family to help pay for the medical expenses. Over $3,000 has been raised.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 3:39 PM.
