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John Kear (born 25 November 1954) is a English rugby league former player and a current coach. Kear played on the wing or in the centre position for Castleford Tigers and is currently the coach of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats rugby league club that plays in the Super League.
After stints working as a conditioner for Castleford Tigers, head coach of Bramley, working in the player performance department of the Rugby Football League, head coach of Paris St Germain and assistant coach to both England and Great Britain, he took over the coaching reigns at Sheffield Eagles in 1997, taking them to the Premiership Semi Final in that year. A year later he was the coach who led Sheffield Eagles to a remarkable Challenge Cup final victory over Wigan Warriors, this triumph is believed by many to be the greatest shock in Challenge Cup history.
He left Sheffield after the 1999 season and went on to coach at Huddersfield Giants before moving on to become the assistant coach to Stuart Raper at Wigan.
He was coach of the England team in the 2000 World Cup, leading them to the Semi Finals.
He left Wigan for the First Team Coach role at Hull FC, working with Shaun McRae. He stepped up from First Team coach at Hull FC when predecessor Shaun McRae left to take charge of South Sydney Rabbitohs. He led the club to victory over Leeds Rhinos, by a 25-24 scoreline in the 2005 Challenge Cup in his first season. However just a year later he was sacked by Hull FC and took charge of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in July 2006 where he steered the team clear of relegation with four wins from the last six matches of the season, culminating in the great escape and condeming Castleford Tigers to relegation to National League 1.
In 2007 he fielded a predominantly untried squad and lead the Wildcats to 8th position in the Super League, their second highest Super League Finish.
