Back at the Lab: Professor Bill Killian assists stu­dents Scott Ferris and Hieu-Hanh Phan with their chem­istry exper­i­ment. Photo By: Kristyn Sonnenberg | Photo Editor

As a teacher in both the class­room and on the court, Bill Killian has been an impor­tant fig­ure at Ferris for more than 20 years.

Killian, a Chicago native, is a pro­fes­sor in the phys­i­cal sci­ences depart­ment and is the coor­di­na­tor of the Industrial Chemistry Technology Program.

When Killian is not teach­ing stu­dents in the class­room, he is men­tor­ing stu­dents on the court as a vol­un­teer assis­tant coach for the men’s bas­ket­ball team. Killian also serves as a Michigan-based scout for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball dur­ing the summer.

With all of the duties Killian has taken on, stay­ing busy is not a problem.

“There is not much free time for me, that’s for sure,” said Killian. “It gets hec­tic some­times try­ing to be a pro­gram coor­di­na­tor and teacher, while also try­ing to run over to prac­tice after I get done teaching.”

Starting in his days as a four-letter ath­lete in bas­ket­ball and base­ball at North Park College in Chicago, Killian soon became inter­ested in teach­ing after serv­ing as a grad­u­ate assis­tant while he com­pleted his master’s degree at Ohio State University.

“It turned out that I really liked teach­ing more than any­thing I was doing at the time,” said Killian. “When I became inter­ested in teach­ing, I knew that I wanted to get into coach­ing, as well.”

After his time at Ohio State, Killian pur­sued his coach­ing aspi­ra­tions by becom­ing the head base­ball coach at St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus, Ohio. During his tenure, Killian led the team to a 92–26 record and state cham­pi­onship in 1979 until he returned to North Park as an assis­tant bas­ket­ball coach. During his time there, North Park won the Division III National Championship in 1986.

After leav­ing North Park, Killian fol­lowed his teach­ing aspi­ra­tions to Ferris, where he was hired as a chem­istry pro­fes­sor in 1987.

When he landed the teach­ing job, Killian went to work latch­ing on with the bas­ket­ball pro­gram, by con­tact­ing then coach Tom Ludwig in hopes of join­ing his staff.

“I just started talk­ing with Tom and I told him about my coach­ing back­ground and my love for the game,” said Killian. “After that, it just worked out for both sides.”

Besides join­ing the bas­ket­ball staff, Killian also served as an assis­tant for the base­ball pro­gram from 1988–1992. After spend­ing seven sea­sons help­ing play­ers develop their bas­ket­ball skills, Killian ended his tenure as a coach in 1995 when Ludwig left the program.

It was not until 2002 when cur­rent men’s head bas­ket­ball coach Bill Sall was hired that Killian got back into coach­ing. Killian was one of the first peo­ple Sall con­tacted to join his staff.

“I did always hope that I would get back into coach­ing and I was hon­ored when Bill asked me to join his staff,” said Killian.

When Killian is not help­ing stu­dents on the court or in the lab, he spends his time with his wife Michele and his three sons, Billy, Dan and Joe. Killian keeps his pri­or­i­ties bal­anced as a fam­ily man as well as a teacher and coach.

Killian’s ath­leti­cism has rubbed off on his sons as well, as both Billy and Dan have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams recently.

With all Killian has going for him right now, the sim­ple joy of help­ing stu­dents learn keeps him pas­sion­ate about teach­ing and coaching.

“It’s easy to work both teach­ing and coach­ing into my sched­ule since I love both so much,” said Killian. “It’s just so grat­i­fy­ing for me to help out a stu­dent and see him/her succeed.”