I see that Edgy added another job opening to his list! Ottawa. That makes 36 if I counted right. How many have been filled and which ones?
Coaching jobs!
- Thread starter MR. "T"
- Start date
Keeping the numbers up at the lower levels (upper, too?) is a challenge perhaps not faced so severely in the past, which makes an already-tough job even tougher. A head coach could somewhat rely on the freshman and sophomore teams being annual repopulated with decent numbers from the area youth programs. Generally speaking, these annual pipelines up to the varsity are trending downward.
Year after year, keeping these spots filled is a challenge because the new coach finds a staff that is tough to fill with experienced guys, apathetic parent base, low budget and disinterested student body. If they can get any positive mojo going, they look for a better gig. Others on that list are just flat out coaching graveyards. Now add all the negative news day after day about football injuries, etc. low numbers from a variety of reasons. No surprise that it is 36 and counting. Plus another thing among the coaching world these days. A lot of new young coaches seem to want to surround themselves with a staff of young "yes" guys. In the old days a newer coach would want some older coaches who have seen a lot and been through the battles for that experience on the staff. Those coaches tended to build a solid staff that resulted in program success for the long haul. Curious to what others think?
good fit, but still not so sure that is a good job, forfeited season...how much will change less than 1 year later? at WY its Academics, Hoops, Academics, Hoops, XC, Football in that order. Need players!
Girls tennis won the 2A state championship. So move football down a few more notches.
There is not a whole lot of job jumping. Very few coaches are willing to give up tenure. Particularly in this environment. Years back coaches needed the stipend money to supplement the teaching salary. There are not too many jobs left where that is the case if you have 8-10 years in.
The last part of your statement reaffirms that if you have a successful program you hire from within, if not a completely new staff. In my opinion this is especially true with a private school. If kids are coming there because they are successful, why would you want to try to fix an unbroken wheel! Enrollment no matter how you get is the lifeblood of a private school!
Want to build your program? Old fashioned style? Career coach retires after 30 years head coaching football, wrestling, and either baseball or track. You bring in three youngsters with likely coaching profiles together. One becomes football head coach & head of the weight room. One becomes wrestling head coach and either OC or DC. Third becomes baseball or track head coach and the other coordinator. They come up with systems appropriate for their community, whether or not they are exciting...double wing might be boring, but 25 years later you have 22 straight playoff appearances, a state title, a runner up, baseball trophies, and wrestling trophies abound...
Or you do the struggling/new program theory...You find a successful coach in a dead end program, maybe one who won a state title with a small school that otherwise has no football history. Hire him as assistant principal/dean of students and head football coach. Let him have an opinion on new hires and pick his own staff, some of which might not teach at your school...Work with the local youth program to implement your systems basics, which might require holding some coaching clinics...and in a few years, your program may become a consistent winner. The trick to this is to become the destination, not the stepping stone (kind of like the Illini)....
Looking at the openings list, you have a couple of dreadful dead ends on the list, and a couple of traditional powers. One of the current openings (Iroquois West) was the victim/stepping stone above 10 years or so ago. High powered passing attacks are rare at small schools because it is difficult to develop the QB/WR combinations. Developing a power run system simply requires hard working kids willing to do what they are told...
One of the dreadful positions needs to go the first route. Reed Custer has had success in wrestling and in track over the years, but recently had been known for Grinnell system basketball (shoot in 7 seconds or less) and baseball. Their sophomores actually looked decent in the fall...and the coach leaves. They have very good facilities...They need to bring in the youngster and let him build the program, and another youngster to rebuild the wrestling program at the same time...
Or you do the struggling/new program theory...You find a successful coach in a dead end program, maybe one who won a state title with a small school that otherwise has no football history. Hire him as assistant principal/dean of students and head football coach. Let him have an opinion on new hires and pick his own staff, some of which might not teach at your school...Work with the local youth program to implement your systems basics, which might require holding some coaching clinics...and in a few years, your program may become a consistent winner. The trick to this is to become the destination, not the stepping stone (kind of like the Illini)....
Looking at the openings list, you have a couple of dreadful dead ends on the list, and a couple of traditional powers. One of the current openings (Iroquois West) was the victim/stepping stone above 10 years or so ago. High powered passing attacks are rare at small schools because it is difficult to develop the QB/WR combinations. Developing a power run system simply requires hard working kids willing to do what they are told...
One of the dreadful positions needs to go the first route. Reed Custer has had success in wrestling and in track over the years, but recently had been known for Grinnell system basketball (shoot in 7 seconds or less) and baseball. Their sophomores actually looked decent in the fall...and the coach leaves. They have very good facilities...They need to bring in the youngster and let him build the program, and another youngster to rebuild the wrestling program at the same time...
Yes and no to the age of coaches being brought in. Some coaches (both old and new) are stuck in their whether they are right or wrong. This undermines the head coach, which causes confusion among the kids. I hate to use this word usually, but it really is about synergy with the coaching staff. Personally, I would want a good mix of both old and new, but it depends what is available in building as well. Especially if you are a young coach and get the job over those older guys. Look out!
You know, 5 of the listed head coaching vacancies (Argo, Shepard, Stagg, TF North and Tinley Park) are located within a "stone's throw" from each other in the Southland. Also, 4 of the schools are from the South Suburban conference with 2 from each of its Red and Blue divisions. Any inferences to draw? Decades-long domination in each respective division by Richards and Lemont?
Lots of schools are staying in house as well. How does one even get a head coaching job at a public high school (or even catholic for that matter). It costs $65k - $80k a year to bring in a new guy plus insurance and benefits.
Schools aren't going outside of the district/ school to find a good solid candidate. They're hiring from within, which means unless you're at the schools that fires their head coach, or has one resign you're not even in the running.
Lots of good young coaches out there getting passed over.
Schools aren't going outside of the district/ school to find a good solid candidate. They're hiring from within, which means unless you're at the schools that fires their head coach, or has one resign you're not even in the running.
Lots of good young coaches out there getting passed over.
I think this also signifies the down swing of football popularity in high schools. 25 years ago, schools would take the time to interview 10-15 coaches, maybe steal an assistant from a rival and get the right guy. Now they interview 2 or 3 say they're only interviewing an "exclusive" list and hire some guy that's been coaching frosh football for 9 years, that has a pulse, and is already teaching at the school. Takes way less time and doesn't cost the school money to bring in a new hire. So now the Principal and AD can say :look we're cutting costs!" Just use somebody that's already there and maybe wants the extra couple thousand in stipend money to take his kids on vacation.
Disappointing. AND as a result, said (made up) frosh football coach, does it for a few years and realizes "holy cow, this is hard!" and steps down but doesnt leave his teaching job. So you have a head football coaching opening, with no teaching job attached to it.
Look at a school like Lemont for example. Michaelson was a hall of fame head coach. who was promoted to Principal. Did they stay in house and take a guy that had been there? Nope, they went out and found Kooi who's a hall of famer himself and they immediately went back to state and sustained their success after Michaelson. People wonder why lemont is so consistent?
I'm not saying some of these in house guys aren't the right choice, maybe you've had a 20+ year assistant like Bukovsky at montini, but some of these schools would do themselves a service by looking a little harder.
Bret Kooi actually does teach at Lemont and such has been the case ever since his hiring. During his couple years at LWNorth before getting the Lemont job, he was still at Lockport then, however.
Mendota has hired Keegan Hill as head football coach. He's previously served as an assistant coach at Belvidere and a student assistant at NIU
Current Tinley Park head baseball coach Josh O'Shea will also be the head football coach for the Titans. Josh is a 1998 Bremen grad..I can't remember the last time someone was a head football and baseball coach at a school up in the Chicago area..
I know Coach Paul Parpet Sr. was the HC of football and baseball at Addison Trail High School.
Back in the early '80s through early '90s, Jerry Munda of TF North held both positions. He acquired the head football job after Mike Tomczak's (Ohio State, Bears) father, Ron, left that position.
Stagg has named Brian Berg, a 2001 graduate of Andrew, as it's new head football coach. Berg has spent the last three years as the Offensive Coordinator for the Chargers, leading the 2017 offense that ranked second all-time in Stagg history for points per game. Berg also has experience as the Defensive Coordinator at Reavis ,where he helped guide a program turnaround from a 1-17 record to a 17-12 record in three seasons and a second round playoff appearance. Brian is currently on staff at Stagg as a Social Science teacher..*information per Stagg athletic web site
East Aurora has named Nick Kukuc as the Tomcats' new head football coach. Kukuc, who has been with the program for four seasons and in coaching for just five, was offensive coordinator the past two years under former head coach Kurt Becker. Nick grew up in Naperville and played running back at both Naperville Central high school, and North Central College. His first year out of college, he was a volunteer coach at Metea Valley.
Currently on the teaching staff in the physical education department at East Aurora, Kukuc has also overseen the weight room and athletic department's strength and conditioning program for four years.
Currently on the teaching staff in the physical education department at East Aurora, Kukuc has also overseen the weight room and athletic department's strength and conditioning program for four years.
No shock that another D230 hire comes from the inside. The teaching contract/salary schedule does not allow for out-of-district experience to be applied to pay/seniority placement. Upon tracking such hires at Stagg, Sandburg and Andrew over recent decades, the only non-D230 hires are from lower-compensated situations like private schools, under-paying public districts or less-experienced teacher-coaches not too far up the salary schedule ladder.
