Building a Program

[colin2229]

I’m curious to what your programs do that you think really helps build the program.

IE, I’ve always admired Batavia. Drove by their field Thursday night and they had what looked like 3rd/4th graders playing organized flag football under the lights. There were 4+ games going at once and parents around the whole field.

Gets the kids excited at a young age loving the game of football. Awesome for community engagement and I’m sure helps to get those kids out to Friday night games.

 

[anon_4vszfu35bv677]

Give zvonar at LWE a call. He built one from nothing and has never missed the playoffs

 

[niualum2002]

Ton of respect for Coach Zvonar, but he took his program to the next level when he inherited half of an already strong Lincoln-Way program.

He is absolutely one of, if not the best when it comes to building a consistent winner. Perhaps no one has been more consistent these past 20 years.

But for guys that have built or rebuilt programs I have to go with Brent Pearlman for what he did at Prospect, John Holecek at Loyola, Pat Dunne at Marist, Bill Kreft at IC, and my dark horse selection for a guy that gets the most out of historically winless or near winless programs in years prior to him arriving...Tim Zasada at T.F. North and Reavis.

 

[bhawks]

Give zvonar at LWE a call. He built one from nothing and has never missed the playoffs

I would agree it's impressive. But he didn't build from nothing. Had tons of money resources.,Facilities , Land. And players from a large area. LWC was already good in football with a state title in late 90s. etc How many state championships has zovnar won? I think 2...which is very good

 

[bhawks]

Ton of respect for Coach Zvonar, but he took his program to the next level when he inherited half of an already strong Lincoln-Way program.

He is absolutely one of, if not the best when it comes to building a consistent winner. Perhaps no one has been more consistent these past 20 years.

But for guys that have built or rebuilt programs I have to go with Brent Pearlman for what he did at Prospect, John Holecek at Loyola, Pat Dunne at Marist, Bill Kreft at IC, and my dark horse selection for a guy that gets the most out of historically winless or near winless programs in years prior to him arriving...Tim Zasada at T.F. North and Reavis.

If I recall correctly prospect didn't get it going under pearlman until Mr Joe Petricca showed up. just saying. I went to Palatine so very aware of what Joe did for that program.

 

[niualum2002]

If I recall correctly prospect didn't get it going under pearlman until Mr Joe Petricca showed up. just saying. I went to Palatine so very aware of what Joe did for that program.

D-Coordinator there after leaving Palatine correct? Prospect played some great defense during those championship seasons.

 

[niualum2002]

Can't forget Racki at Naz also.

 

[MC63]

I’m curious to what your programs do that you think really helps build the program.

IE, I’ve always admired Batavia. Drove by their field Thursday night and they had what looked like 3rd/4th graders playing organized flag football under the lights. There were 4+ games going at once and parents around the whole field.

Gets the kids excited at a young age loving the game of football. Awesome for community engagement and I’m sure helps to get those kids out to Friday night games.

Yes, Batavia's done a wonderful job. They enjoy one of the many advantages that private schools don't: feeder systems. Those 3rd graders will have six years experience when they enter Batavia as freshmen..

Yes, I know that private schools have some advantages, as well ... but it's hardly one-sided.

 

[mc140]

Yes, Batavia's done a wonderful job. They enjoy one of the many advantages that private schools don't: feeder systems. Those 3rd graders will have six years experience when they enter Batavia as freshmen..

Yes, I know that private schools have some advantages, as well ... but it's hardly one-sided.

Most schools will not be running the same offense and defense that kids in 4th grade will run when they are in high school. Very few coaches last over 10 years and even less do not change what they run at some point.

Also, why is Geneva so bad now?

 

[doctor_d]

Wilmington was perennially somewhere between mediocrity and door mat until Reents took over in 94. Quarterfinals in 88 and a couple other first round exits. I remember 94 we were picked by the papers to lose every game but finished 3-6. The following year 95 started like 1-4 and made a QB change and finished on a roll at 5-4. Probably could have given somebody a scare if it was 8 class era. Reents has had the same key staff members and hasn’t missed the playoffs since 96. The youth league teams run similar stuff as high school. Great community pride and support for the football program.

 

[colin2229]

You guys have any specific aspects to these above mentioned programs that the program does that have attributed to their success?

 

[superac777]

Give zvonar at LWE a call. He built one from nothing and has never missed the playoffs

Including the 1st year where they played with frosh sophomores jrs no seniors and made it in

 

[McCaravan]

Ton of respect for Coach Zvonar, but he took his program to the next level when he inherited half of an already strong Lincoln-Way program.

He is absolutely one of, if not the best when it comes to building a consistent winner. Perhaps no one has been more consistent these past 20 years.

But for guys that have built or rebuilt programs I have to go with Brent Pearlman for what he did at Prospect, John Holecek at Loyola, Pat Dunne at Marist, Bill Kreft at IC, and my dark horse selection for a guy that gets the most out of historically winless or near winless programs in years prior to him arriving...Tim Zasada at T.F. North and Reavis.

I don’t know if I would give Holecek props for rebuilding Loyola, he took over a successful program Hoerster and took it to another level but he didn’t rebuild it for the ashes or anything.

One Coach you do have to give Props to is Harold Blackmon...Laurence was a dormant program for years...Blackmon brought in some outstanding African-American Athletes that had been missing from the school for decades and built them up to a winning program. Two consecutive semi final appearances and competitive program. Lets see if Nissan can keep getting those same athletes into Laurence.

 

[anon_4vszfu35bv677]

I would agree it's impressive. But he didn't build from nothing. Had tons of money resources.,Facilities , Land. And players from a large area. LWC was already good in football with a state title in late 90s. etc How many state championships has zovnar won? I think 2...which is very good

LWE was a brand new school in the freshman building in 2001. No seniors and made the playoffs. How many other schools made the playoffs in their first year and then every year thereafter?

 

[bhawks]

LWE was a brand new school in the freshman building in 2001. No seniors and made the playoffs. How many other schools made the playoffs in their first year and then every year thereafter?

The made the playoffs with all freshman? Is that for real?

 

[crusader_of_90]

The made the playoffs with all freshman? Is that for real?

I think he meant three classes - no seniors yet in the building - made playoffs.

 

[bhawks]

I think he meant three classes - no seniors yet in the building - made playoffs.

I mis read that. That is impressive.

 

[MS4EVER]

You guys have any specific aspects to these above mentioned programs that the program does that have attributed to their success?

I’m guessing all have a great off season workout plan, kids that buy in and a ton of community support. On top of that great coaching equals success.

 

[WIU78]

Community support is the key. Coach Zvonar had sophomores moving up to Varsity competition as Junior class only and playing varsity competition that was more balanced in the South burbs than it is today. The championship at LWay was ‘97 so there was no carryover of players in ‘01 or any varsity experience to pull from. The split making East and Central only took coaches, the excitement of a new school and feeder programs that were large and were well coached. Did I mention community support...most critical are those grammar school programs. Think double wing as a stepping stone as well.

 

[corey90]

LWE was a brand new school in the freshman building in 2001. No seniors and made the playoffs. How many other schools made the playoffs in their first year and then every year thereafter?

I totally agree,
I have read all the posts after yours LWEastDad and I don’t see any that have done what Coach Z has accomplished in building a powerhouse football program. East doesn’t rebuild they reload year after year. Make no mistake it is because of how Z runs his program. Sure their are other great coaches and in Illinois that have built power programs but I don’t think they started with a new school with no Seniors? I realize this is a private board and they don’t like public schools and LWE but their is no denying Coach Z’s accomplishments. I wonder how many years East has been 9-0 through the regular season? We know they have never missed the playoffs. Year after year any team on East’s schedule knows they are going to have to bring their best.

 

[Coach Percy]

You gotta add Phillips coach. He took a team that was a doormat in CPS and made a consistent state contender.

 

[PowerI66]

I'm by no means a MS fan, but the program Inserra has built is outstanding and baffling. How did it take this long in the posts for him to get mentioned? Unless I skipped over something...

 

[bhawks]

Agreed on on these guys ... Do you think any of these guys ie inserra coach Z etc could turn a program like West Chicago into a powerhouse? Seems you have to be in the right place first then do your thing.

 

[MS4EVER]

I'm by no means a MS fan, but the program Inserra has built is outstanding and baffling. How did it take this long in the posts for him to get mentioned? Unless I skipped over something...

While I agree he is awesome, he did take over a program with tons of talent built by Coach Hopkins. David took it to a new level though.

 

[PowerI66]

Agreed on on these guys ... Do you think any of these guys ie inserra coach Z etc could turn a program like West Chicago into a powerhouse? Seems you have to be in the right place first then do your thing.

Usually difficult say without intimate knowledge of the support from admin and the athletic department. I will say it's possible to WIN anywhere over time, but building a powerhouse is a whole different story.

 

[SOUTHSIDECFD]

You gotta add Phillips coach. He took a team that was a doormat in CPS and made a consistent state contender.

Really?

 

[anon_4vszfu35bv677]

I'm by no means a MS fan, but the program Inserra has built is outstanding and baffling. How did it take this long in the posts for him to get mentioned? Unless I skipped over something...

coach inserra has maintained a very good program and made it great. He didn’t start from scratch though. Coach Hopkins left it in great shape.

 

[Coach Percy]

Really?

Yeah. Regardless of his recruiting methods, he built a winner when no other CPS team was really relevant as far as winning state titles

 

[Gene K.]

Coach Andriano from Montini built the football program from ground up. Wonderful positive humble guy who instilled that in his players. Montini would not be where they are today without him at the helm for so many years.

 

[colin2229]

What do some of these staffs do to engage the community? What do they do to build feeder programs?

Have meetings with all the coaches in grade school levels?

 

[ignazio]

I don’t know if I would give Holecek props for rebuilding Loyola, he took over a successful program Hoerster and took it to another level but he didn’t rebuild it for the ashes or anything.

Holecek succeeded Favaro.

McDonagh built a winner at Curie.

 

[Gene K.]

I know they come out to the feeder programs and talk to the youngsters. Also when you have teammates who are a year older than you and they go to a particular school, this has a major impact on the decision of where these kids go.

Of more importance is once in the door, is the school atmosphere, with teachers and student body, as well as the encouragement of coaches and teachers as they move forward. Coach Andriano at Montini and other lower level coaches were experts at making their players feel special once in the door.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Building a program is probably easier at the smaller unit school districts, like the ICE schools. Let's use Manteno, my alma mater, as an example. The Manteno School Board wouldn't start football until they knew it was viable, so the youth league was started in '97. School let them lay out a field at the middle school...had like 150 kids sign up the first year. Second year signups had like 175 kids...went into the school board with a discussion of a majority of the new coaches year 2 had McNamara connections, so either make a decision or we are going to have created Mac's dream feeder program. They had the first additions to the high school being planned - a classroom addition plus the "fieldhouse" - which suddenly grew from just a gym floor and bathroms to a floor+, a dedicated weight/fitness room, a smallish girls locker room and a locker room designed for football. They committed to freshmen in 2000, full varsity 2002. MHS was still mid-300's enrollment, but 100+ houses per year were being proposed to the Village at the time.

Enrollment increases creates teaching openings. The administration made a concerted effort to get young, new teachers who wanted to coach. First coach was a young man named Jake Zajc, who jumped in with both feet. Immediately started working with the youth program, giving them some direction. And some excellent assistants joined him - Mike Kohl, Bradley's future HC, for example. It allowed the youth league to run off the Mac people...

Zajc left for a big pay increase to the Lincoln Ways after 3 varsity years...Kohl went home to Bradley, and many of the other assistants left for big pay raises as well... Elliott Craig came in for 1 year, and I'm stunned he made it through the season. He was an outside hire and pissed everyone off...called the soccer team lawn fairies, which is not a bright idea in a district where the youth soccer program has over 1000 kids...

Now at a crossroads, the Panthers found a gem...RJ Haines had won the 2A State Title at Iroquois West in 2003. Manteno gave him the opportunity to step up...But how to keep him from using Manteno as a stepping stone? Hire him as Dean of Students & football coach, with the bigger salary. He's been there since. He brought with him the pass first read option spread that he ran at IWest...

Haines worked with the youth league to implement the key parts of his system at the appropriate levels...Superlights simple blocking, tackling, terminology...Lightweights a little read option. JV some more complex passing concepts...By the time the kids are in middle school he knows who his likely QB & WR are...He's not always right...he kept trying to make Gavin Zimbelman a safety instead of QB... And a stable group of youth league coaches has emerged...sure, there are some who moved up the ladder with their kids, but many with multiple kids chose a level and stuck to it...kids are out of youth league, they are still doing it, a couple since day 1 in '97.

It took until 2010 to make the playoffs, but barring disaster Friday this will be 9 playoffs in 10 years after missing last year when the QB broke his ankle week 2. The number of players isn't great, but he shares his field with a high quality soccer program that regularly goes to sectionals which cuts into his numbers. They do Wildcat night where the youth league players get introduced, and the Wildcat players all wear their jersies to school on Friday like the big boys and wear them to the games. The cheerleaders have a camp where the elementary kids in the camp get to do their cheer at halftime at another home game.

Music Boosters are also important. The choir/band instructor who started when I was in 7th grade, set up the show choirs, did a lot of heavy lifting to create a top notch music program at the junior high and high school just was not interested in a marching band. He took the basketball pep band and put it in the football bleachers. When he started moving towards retirement 6 years ago, they hired a fired up youngster who was told that he was going to evolve the pep band into a marching band. He implemented new music (which hadn't changed since I was a student). He got them to march out to play in the bleachers. Then he got them onto the field to do the school song in an M formation...Its year 4 or 5 now, and the Marching Panthers have come out of the cocoon, new real marching band uniforms this year, marching around the track to perform the visitor's school song pregame before going to midfield for our school song and national anthem, half-time show...Its taken these parents 18 years to get a full-blown marching band...they're committed to Friday night just as much as the football parents.

Many successful small town football programs will tell similar stories. Wilmington has a host of youth league coaches who played for Reents, he now has kids playing for him whose dads played for him. Why hasn't he left for greener pastures? He's vice-principal now...I think that's kid of a trend at ICE schools to find administrative positions for important coaches...Feeney, the Wilmo baseball coach who won the titles, was principal for a while and now asst superintendant...

 

[McCaravan]

Holecek succeeded Favaro.

McDonagh built a winner at Curie.

How long was he at LA?

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Most schools will not be running the same offense and defense that kids in 4th grade will run when they are in high school. Very few coaches last over 10 years and even less do not change what they run at some point.

Also, why is Geneva so bad now?

Stable programs in smaller communities don't tend to change much...In the Kankakee area...
Zinanni, McNamara, 45 years
Reents, Wilmington 26 years
Spooner, Clifton Central, 21 years
Haines, Manteno 14 years
Coal City, Hutchings 3 years, but prior assistant - Onsen 17, Miller 14
Peotone had a pair of 2 years, now 5th Tsiamas
Wetzel, Herscher, 19 years, Wakey 17 before that
Reed Custer...sad...3rd year current, 4, 3,1 Cappel 12
Lisle Parpet 5, Sanko 17 before
Streator Hassett 6, 5 prior...
Momence Walker 5, Fox 4, Kubal 9
Iroquois West Stone 2nd, 5, 6, 1, Haines 4, Boma forever
Watseka 4, 5, 11, 13,
Kankakee 1st, 5, 3, 6, 6
Bradley Kohl 10, Bundy 14

Not surprisingly, the stable program have had the longstanding coaches...and hire from within...

 

[eagles2k3]

I totally agree,
I have read all the posts after yours LWEastDad and I don’t see any that have done what Coach Z has accomplished in building a powerhouse football program. East doesn’t rebuild they reload year after year. Make no mistake it is because of how Z runs his program. Sure their are other great coaches and in Illinois that have built power programs but I don’t think they started with a new school with no Seniors? I realize this is a private board and they don’t like public schools and LWE but their is no denying Coach Z’s accomplishments. I wonder how many years East has been 9-0 through the regular season? We know they have never missed the playoffs. Year after year any team on East’s schedule knows they are going to have to bring their best.

I’m sure zvonar is a great coach but why didn’t he win a state title when the other Lincoln way schools opened? He lost great players to the newer LW schools.

Low and behold when North closed and those kids went to LWE he wins a state title. As good as a coach is you have to have the players to get it done.

 

[Bowie50]

The made the playoffs with all freshman? Is that for real?

That’s not what he wrote.

 

[corey90]

I’m sure zvonar is a great coach but why didn’t he win a state title when the other Lincoln way schools opened? He lost great players to the newer LW schools.

Low and behold when North closed and those kids went to LWE he wins a state title. As good as a coach is you have to have the players to get it done.

So playing in the State Championship in 2012 7A means nothing to you? This was when the schools were multiplying and enrollment was down at East. Looks like he still had a power program regardless of the splits.

 

[WIU78]

I’m sure zvonar is a great coach but why didn’t he win a state title when the other Lincoln way schools opened? He lost great players to the newer LW schools.

Low and behold when North closed and those kids went to LWE he wins a state title. As good as a coach is you have to have the players to get it done.

Not a clue eagles2k3. They played for a championship in 2012 without North. Coach Zvonar dealt with changing class size, losing 1/2 of your student body to North, shifting again when North closed and losing half your “trained” players to LWC. Retraining a system to the North athletes. Along the way playing the likes of top shelf programs Mt.Carmel, Maine South, WWSouth, and others who went on to win the championships. Even though stable, situations were in flux. Not easy to win it all in any class. Last year Loyola. The conference has had Lockport, H-F, and the Brook since 2001 to compete with. Not the best maybe, but for publics I will take LWE with any. It still comes down to the community support.

 

[ignazio]

How long was he at LA?

Coach Favaro was HC at LA for three years following Hoerster's untimely death, but was employed in various capacities for 34 years. Truly a great person, he died too young in 2014.