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New Coaches @ Cascia

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Wittymoniker1

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. . . . on first look is very impressive! Coach Hopkins added Super Bowl Champion and former Rita LB and/or ER, Darius Fleming.

In addition, Heisman Trophy runner-up Brad Banks has been added to the staff. Great start for the program, imo.

I am sure most of the coaches from Todd's regime are still part of Coach Hopkins's staff.
 
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Talk about a major influx of coaching talent! No disrespect to Coach Kuska but I imagine the new hires at St. Rita are bringing some serious juice to that offseason program. Week 4 is going to feature two Heisman runner-up QBs going at it as coaches. Can't ask for better than that in the new era of the SR/MC rivalry.
 
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Wittymoniker1 said:
. . . . on first look is very impressive! Coach Hopkins added Super Bowl Champion and former Rita LB and/or ER, Darius Fleming.

In addition, Heisman Trophy runner-up Brad Banks has been added to the staff. Great start for the program, imo.

I am sure most of the coaches from Todd's regime are still part of Coach Hopkins's staff.
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Great hires, but I was holding out hope Mike Kafka would get a job. But I guess interviewing for a NFL head coaching job may pay a little more.... I thinking Marty Hopkins is adding more to the staff than cutting anyone. The field announcer is retiring and so is the statistician who has been flying in from Nevada to do the games for 3 or 4 years now. Darius is one of the finest people I have ever met. It will be very interesting to see what Brad Banks does with the quarterbacks.

I'm thinking DJ Stewart will have a great year. If the passing game keeps the defenses honest and not load up the box DJ will have some monster games.
 
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Wittymoniker1 said:
. . . . on first look is very impressive! Coach Hopkins added Super Bowl Champion and former Rita LB and/or ER, Darius Fleming.

In addition, Heisman Trophy runner-up Brad Banks has been added to the staff. Great start for the program, imo.

I am sure most of the coaches from Todd's regime are still part of Coach Hopkins's staff.
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The Banks hire is interesting. When most of us think of SR hard hitting defense and a good running game come to mind. This is a big pick for QB coach. A guy with this background most likely becomes the head coach.
 
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tomloner said:
Great hires, but I was holding out hope Mike Kafka would get a job. But I guess interviewing for a NFL head coaching job may pay a little more.... I thinking Marty Hopkins is adding more to the staff than cutting anyone. The field announcer is retiring and so is the statistician who has been flying in from Nevada to do the games for 3 or 4 years now. Darius is one of the finest people I have ever met. It will be very interesting to see what Brad Banks does with the quarterbacks.

I'm thinking DJ Stewart will have a great year. If the passing game keeps the defenses honest and not load up the box DJ will have some monster games.
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If the O-line reloads and QB Banks can coach up the QBs, I truly believe Rita can contend in 7A. I know this past season's O-line was a juggernaut, but I am hoping next year's version can get somewhat close.

With that and possibly an improved passing game, there's potential.
 
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Wittymoniker1 said:
If the O-line reloads and QB Banks can coach up the QBs, I truly believe Rita can contend in 7A. I know this past season's O-line was a juggernaut, but I am hoping next year's version can get somewhat close.

With that and possibly an improved passing game, there's potential.
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I think they are 6A as of now.
 
McCaravan said:
Real nice additions! Banks is coming in from Naperville I'm guessing he may only be on campus a couple days a week. If he's not a head coach somewhere I'm guessing this isn't his only job. It's a great hire, I didn't even know he lived in the Chicagoland area, maybe he works with Fleming. They listed Fleming as "Assistant DLine Coach"....Is there a head Dline coach? He doesn't need an assistant! :). He may be part time as well.
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In the past SR has used multiple DL coaches for interior and ends. Probably the case for the title. And dont forget the Iowa connection with Hopkins and Banks. Great network to have.
 
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McCaravan said:
Real nice additions! Banks is coming in from Naperville I'm guessing he may only be on campus a couple days a week. If he's not a head coach somewhere I'm guessing this isn't his only job. It's a great hire, I didn't even know he lived in the Chicagoland area, maybe he works with Fleming. They listed Fleming as "Assistant DLine Coach"....Is there a head Dline coach? He doesn't need an assistant! :). He may be part time as well.
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Cmon McCar, is this how you pull me out of my self-imposed 8 week slumber?

No one is part time. Coach Banks’ hire was through mutual Hawkeye friends that bridged the 10 year gap between Martin and Brad’s time on the Iowa campus.

Darius, who has always been very generous of his time to his alma mater and even more so since his nephew became a Mustang last year, is all in with whatever title they gave him.

Cmon man!!! You know Hops (going away from the professional Martin name for a second), he’s a force of nature as proven by an excellent test taking class of 27 while he was in between two states. He’s completely in the building now and his new hires are 100% in on their roles. And they already have a former Patriot coaching the OLine with John Nee the past two years.

And who knows who pops in during summer camp, does Kafka come check out what’s going on if he has time to visit home with his busy off-season, Super Bowl champ Buccaneer Patrick O’Connor stopping by? He did on his bye week, Maybe some former Hawkeyes he coached that are in the league?

My concerns, obviously while the present and future are bright, are replacing the difference makers lost in the Kingsburys, Farrell, Schmitt, Talty vs a tough but fair schedule. But nothing more exciting than seeing who steps up and the great challenge ahead in the 2023 campaign
 
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CCLorBUST said:
In the past SR has used multiple DL coaches for interior and ends. Probably the case for the title. And dont forget the Iowa connection with Hopkins and Banks. Great network to have.
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True. Also, Coach Lynch didn’t go all-scorched earth when he became the Head Coach at Mount Carmel, kept Coach Dave Lenti and Coach Antonetti (sp?), two pillars of the Caravan’s great success. Coach Hopkins is doing the same from what I see, respecting the staff that coached him in HS and making great additions as he sees fit. Roles and Coaching titles be damned! I wanna be a fly on the wall during film and prep!
 
RockSoup said:
True. Also, Coach Lynch didn’t go all-scorched earth when he became the Head Coach at Mount Carmel, kept Coach Dave Lenti and Coach Antonetti (sp?), two pillars of the Caravan’s great success. Coach Hopkins is doing the same from what I see, respecting the staff that coached him in HS and making great additions as he sees fit. Roles and Coaching titles be damned! I wanna be a fly on the wall during film and prep!
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Only ones he replaced are the ones who left because on their own accord after Coach Frank was let go, which was only 1 or 2 coaches.
 
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The rivalry moves on. 2 healthy blue bloods. Can’t wait!
 
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RockSoup said:
No disrespect, intended, of course.

Throwing wet blankets on exciting, impressive hires for teenage football on the South Side? Intended?

I mean, Great news, impressive, great for the rivalry, those are solid responses.

Nice hires, they’ll probably just show up here and there, I’ll admit, was not the response I was expecting.

Naperville, where both schools have students from, is now all of a sudden too far for those fancy gas-powered stagecoaches to get to the city from.

I mean, Mount Carmel will eventually announce whom they have hired this offseason, and I would think they would want coaching-hire threads to be as quick and as undramatic as possible. And if you do not know where I’m coming from, then that would tell me a lot about when they will announce any football staff additions.
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While I can see how it can read as a jab I can assure you it was not meant in that context and I have removed it as so no other Rita fan may take it as such. It was just off the top of my head observation. I think we’ve had enough brain storming over the years that you could trust me on that. It’s been removed.
 
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McCaravan said:
While I can see how it can read as a jab I can assure you it was not meant in that context and I have removed it as so no other Rita fan may take it as such. It was just off the top of my head observation. I think we’ve had enough brain storming over the years that you could trust me on that. It’s been removed.
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Understood. Edited my post.
 
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Wittymoniker1 said:
Wait a . . . minute . . . . 2023-24 school year will be next year. I'm a fool. Ok. Rita in 6A next year, most likely.
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I believe with 2 semifinal appearances in a row they can petition up to 7A...or even 8A....but I never really dug into how petitioning up technically works so don’t take that as gospel. ESL in 6A, MC and others in 7A, either will be competitive.
 
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CCLorBUST said:
In the past SR has used multiple DL coaches for interior and ends. Probably the case for the title. And dont forget the Iowa connection with Hopkins and Banks. Great network to have.
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SR has always had very good coaching on the DL. Darius Fleming DE, Matt Konrath DE, Bruce Gaston DT/NT, and Pat O’Connor DE/DT all played in the NFL with two getting Super Bowl rings. Darius was also a High School All-American.
 
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McCaravan said:
I believe with 2 semifinal appearances in a row they can petition up to 7A...or even 8A....but I never really dug into how petitioning up technically works so don’t take that as gospel. ESL in 6A, MC and others in 7A, either will be competitive.
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You could get success factored up. The only CCL Blue school that voluntarily goes up is Loyola.
 
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