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Evanston HC opening

Is it fair to compare Evanston to OPRF?

Similar mix of socioeconomic backgrounds with their student body, but also a large private school in their backyard.

Assume the Kits have talent roaming the halls.
 
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IMO, Evanston being mediocre at football is one of the great mysteries. Too large of a school not to be able to find 60 athletic boys a class along with having a culture of solid athletics across all sports
 
Is it fair to compare Evanston to OPRF?

Similar mix of socioeconomic backgrounds with their student body, but also a large private school in their backyard.

Assume the Kits have talent roaming the halls.
I don't know the situation at OPRF well enough to compare, but it does feel similar. It seems people like to compare Evanston and Oak Park in general.
 
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IMO, Evanston being mediocre at football is one of the great mysteries. Too large of a school not to be able to find 60 athletic boys a class along with having a culture of solid athletics across all sports
Yeah, its a bit surprising, but I think multiple factors go into it. To me, participation is the key ingredient (by end of this season, only ~40 kids were suiting up on varsity). Many Evanston parents don't let their boys play football, basketball is king at Evanston & almost no boys play both at varsity level, and then we definitely have Evanston kids go to Loyola & Notre Dame (even Mt. Carmel!) probably (at least partly) because we haven't competed at highest levels.

Definitely think there are a group of boys that can play who are returning next year, hope they are able to rally behind new coach (not a slight on Coach Buzz) & start some positive momentum. I'm also encouraging my son to work the hallways to encourage good athletes who don't have a fall sport to give football a try :)
 
IMO, Evanston being mediocre at football is one of the great mysteries. Too large of a school not to be able to find 60 athletic boys a class along with having a culture of solid athletics across all sports
They used to be one of the best programs around in the late 70s and 80s. I can remember fall of 1981 when 2-4 Maine East played 6-0 and #1 in Class 6A Evanston.... and Maine East managed to pull of a 13-12 upset in overtime. It was HUGE to beat Evanston at that time.
 
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The used to be one of the best programs around in the late 70s and 80s. I can remember fall of 1981 when 2-4 Maine East played 6-0 and #1 in Class 6A Evanston.... and Maine East managed to pull of a 13-12 upset in overtime. It was HUGE to beat Evanston at that time.
Still lead the state by a good margin in guys sent to the NFL. Looks like some big time talent went through there in mid 70's- early 80's as well as in early- mid 90's : https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/high_schools.cgi?hs_state=IL

Last FBS kid however is Sebastian Cheeks, who is R-So at Wisconsin (transferred from UNC).
 
Does the city of Evanston have a strong youth football program?
I don't have 1st hand experience, but I don't think the numbers are there in the same way as many suburbs with more successful hs programs. Soccer is popular, very competitive, and hs teams have been excellent. Same for basketball. Baseball has been quite strong in recent years. Need to find a way to get kids in Evanston dreaming of playing under the lights for the hometown school.
 
I don't have 1st hand experience, but I don't think the numbers are there in the same way as many suburbs with more successful hs programs. Soccer is popular, very competitive, and hs teams have been excellent. Same for basketball. Baseball has been quite strong in recent years. Need to find a way to get kids in Evanston dreaming of playing under the lights for the hometown school.
With Evanston's success in so many sports, I have to believe they would be a sleeping giant in football. Facilities, athletes, favorable schedule.
 
With Evanston's success in so many sports, I have to believe they would be a sleeping giant in football. Facilities, athletes, favorable schedule.
From your lips to God's ears, brother (is that still an expression?). Check out our weight room. Unbelievable.

Curious, would your former coach be a candidate? Obviously a ton of success there, but I don't know story on why he's no longer there.
 
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From your lips to God's ears, brother (is that still an expression?). Check out our weight room. Unbelievable.

Curious, would your former coach be a candidate? Obviously a ton of success there, but I don't know story on why he's no longer there.
Looks like a great facility. Not sure why Buzz didn't get over the hump wins wise. It seemed like he stabilized things pretty fast, but then it fizzled nearly as fast. Seems like a place with great opportunity though for sure. I know you deal with competetion for athletes, but it seems like there's a lot to sell there.
 
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Never realized the massive difference between his two tenures.

Evanston:
2008-09 27 Mike Burzawa
2009-10 45 Mike Burzawa
2010-118AQ 64 Mike Burzawa
2011-128AQ 55 Mike Burzawa
2012-138AQ 55 Mike Burzawa
2013-148AQ 55 Mike Burzawa
2014-15 36 Mike Burzawa
2015-168AQ 64 Mike Burzawa
2016-178AQ 64 Mike Burzawa
2017-188AQ 64 Mike Burzawa
2018-198AQ 73 Mike Burzawa
2019-20 36 Mike Burzawa
2020-21 33 Mike Burzawa
2021-228AQ 64 Mike Burzawa
2022-23 45 Mike Burzawa
2023-24 36 Mike Burzawa
2024-25 36 Mike Burzawa
 
I’d love to see E-town be great again. I’d Buzz couldn’t do it I’m not sure who can!
Everything I've heard about Buzz is positive. So it's not a slight at him, but maybe the skills he needed at Driscoll were different than at Evanston. Importantly he didn't "build" Driscoll (well at least not at HC, not sure how early he was there as an asset).

They were pretty solid 30ish years ago. Not sure if demographics and school institution priorities are too different or what, but it does seem they aren't "disadvantaged" in a traditional sense.
 
Watched GBS-Evanston. Evanston has athletics on the field, but was probably the worst tackling 8A team I've ever seen. Lots of core fundamentals just weren't there. The right coach can get them to playoffs quickly .
 
With Evanston's success in so many sports, I have to believe they would be a sleeping giant in football. Facilities, athletes, favorable schedule.
I'm not so sure on the favorable schedule part.

Played Laurence then Prospect and Palatine. Also confernce games with Maine South and Glenbrook South. Add in a rivalry game with New Trier.

If they really want a favorable schedule they should go play in the Upstate 8.
 
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I'm not so sure on the favorable schedule part.

Played Laurence then Prospect and Palatine. Also confernce games with Maine South and Glenbrook South. Add in a rivalry game with New Trier.

If they really want a favorable schedule they should go play in the Upstate 8.
Football seems to be one of weakest sports in the CSL, but it's not terrible. The scheduling agreement with the MSL has been rough.... Basically has put 2 L's on every team (other than Maine South) for last several years, with a few exceptions.
 
Watched GBS-Evanston. Evanston has athletics on the field, but was probably the worst tackling 8A team I've ever seen. Lots of core fundamentals just weren't there. The right coach can get them to playoffs quickly .
I'm a little sensitive because my son was on that defense, but worst youve ever seen? C'mon, that's ridiculous. GBS ran the ball well (that's what they do), but not many missed tackles. The opening kickoff returned for a TD wasnt great tackling, but it was also a D1 kid on their side making a great play.
 
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From your lips to God's ears, brother (is that still an expression?). Check out our weight room. Unbelievable.

Curious, would your former coach be a candidate? Obviously a ton of success there, but I don't know story on why he's no longer there.
These facilities are better than most division 2 and 3 college campuses. I was blown away that StL beat Evanston so handily this year given the size of the student body. A coaching change could be the catalyst this program needs.
 
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I'm not so sure on the favorable schedule part.

Played Laurence then Prospect and Palatine. Also confernce games with Maine South and Glenbrook South. Add in a rivalry game with New Trier.

If they really want a favorable schedule they should go play in the Upstate 8.
I don’t see why the shot at the upstate eight considering the last time Evanston played South Elgin, the score was 62-10 Storm. Granted the Storm lost to Maine South but so does almost everyone else. I will give you a pass on that.

My point was that Evanston’s athletes can, and do, compete with the CSL in every sport and most of their non-con games over the years have been against Chicago schools or the like (Zion).

Do you think they are out of their league? I don’t see it that way.
 
Football seems to be one of weakest sports in the CSL, but it's not terrible. The scheduling agreement with the MSL has been rough.... Basically has put 2 L's on every team (other than Maine South) for last several years, with a few exceptions.
Ironically, the MSL was hesitant on the agreement in the first place!
 
I would think there’s huge upside at Evanston. Anyone play against them recently?
This is how the annual MS/Etown game has been for years. Evanston comes out hard. MS handles the early storm. We go up a few scores. They begin to argue and point fingers. Game over. They have plenty of good football players over there. The right system and they could be in the playoffs yearly. I’m sure it’s not that easy, but there is potential there.
 
This is how the annual MS/Etown game has been for years. Evanston comes out hard. MS handles the early storm. We go up a few scores. They begin to argue and point fingers. Game over. They have plenty of good football players over there. The right system and they could be in the playoffs yearly. I’m sure it’s not that easy, but there is potential there.
This is the same observation most suburban schools make about CPL schools when they play in most sports. I've always dismissed those people that say Evanston is much closer to a neighborhood CPS school than a CSL school...Athletic Wise anyway. Maybe there is something to that thought?
 
I do beleive Evanston has higher academic standards for their student athletes than most schools in terms of eligibilty. I am not sure if those have changed over the years but that could be a reason they dont get all the athletes out for football.

With that said and it has been said earlier rarely do you see a Private school coach go to a Public school and have the same success.

Burzawa at Evanston: 77-82 with 9 Playoff appearances in 17 years
Racki at Nazareth: 162-69 with 6 STATE TITLES in 20 years
 
This is the same observation most suburban schools make about CPL schools when they play in most sports. I've always dismissed those people that say Evanston is much closer to a neighborhood CPS school than a CSL school...Athletic Wise anyway. Maybe there is something to that thought?
I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean exactly, but other than Maine South with GBS being a distant second, football is just not doing that well in recent years in CSL. Evanston has beat New Trier last 2 years, and NT is basically awesome at just about every varsity sport & has the best facilities in the state.

Evanston has been very good in many other sports, but football has not been a "hot" sport in most of the geography of the CSL. As I said above, for boys basketball is king at Evanston (probably true at NT, GBS, GBN as well). While that's not a ton of kids, there have been a handful of kids in last few years playing hoops (& not football) at Evanston that I'm 100% convinced have the makeup to be all-conference football players..... you add 3 or 4 all-conference types to a team and it could totally change the outcome. There's also another group of kids I know at Evanston who would be good players whose parents won't let them play because of fear of injury. I suspect that is more pronounced in the CSL than in other places 🤷‍♂️
 
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This is how the annual MS/Etown game has been for years. Evanston comes out hard. MS handles the early storm. We go up a few scores. They begin to argue and point fingers. Game over. They have plenty of good football players over there. The right system and they could be in the playoffs yearly. I’m sure it’s not that easy, but there is potential there.
Actually you hit it on the head. They're their own worst enemies sometimes. If things don't go well they lose discipline, throw some cheap shots, etc. Hoffman Estates used to be famous for that( in 2014 against Palatine, Hoffman had first and goal at the 8 yard line. Then a couple of sacks and three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties made it fourth and goal from their own 25 yd line). Hoffman has changed in the last 5 years or so though, and success has followed.
 
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I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean exactly, but other than Maine South with GBS being a distant second, football is just not doing that well in recent years in CSL. Evanston has beat New Trier last 2 years, and NT is basically awesome at just about every varsity sport & has the best facilities in the state.

Evanston has been very good in many other sports, but football has not been a "hot" sport in most of the geography of the CSL. As I said above, for boys basketball is king at Evanston (probably true at NT, GBS, GBN as well). While that's not a ton of kids, there have been a handful of kids in last few years playing hoops (& not football) at Evanston that I'm 100% convinced have the makeup to be all-conference football players..... you add 3 or 4 all-conference types to a team and it could totally change the outcome. There's also another group of kids I know at Evanston who would be good players whose parents won't let them play because of fear of injury. I suspect that is more pronounced in the CSL than in other places 🤷‍♂
Clearly, I'm not nearly as eloquent as I think I am... But, I was simply trying to say that the coaching point/fan criticism of CPL schools in pretty much all sports other than basketball is that CPL schools come out hot, then fall apart at the first sign of a problem. I've never heard that criticism levied against Evanston. I've heard from many people over the years that Evanston is a lot more similar to a CPS schools than other CSL schools concerning challenges with students and the challenges faced by the student population. I just thought it was interesting to hear the criticism of falling apart at the first sign of trouble levied at a school outside of CPS.
 
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