2021-2022 Head Coach Openings

SHG’s legendary football coach Ken Leonard will be retiring at the end of this coming season. He won four 5A State Titles as well as one 6A Title at the school and was State runner up four times. I don’t know at this time who will be the SHG HC next season. I hope Coach Ken has a great retirement, he’s certainly earned it.

net wrote:springfield high is not open..................yet.

Interviewing seven candidates for the Head Football Coach position at Springfield H.S. tomorrow. Two are in building.

Pike Bishop wrote:

net wrote:springfield high is not open..................yet.

Interviewing seven candidates for the Head Football Coach position at Springfield H.S. tomorrow. Two are in building.

check your pms.

Pike Bishop wrote:

net wrote:springfield high is not open..................yet.

Interviewing seven candidates for the Head Football Coach position at Springfield H.S. tomorrow. Two are in building.

check your pms part 2.

Carrollton open

Carrollton, Oregon, North Greene, Joliet West and Pinckneyville among the latest openings. 1st Post has been updated

Fisher promotes assistant Jon Deedrick to Head Coach

Bighitter11 wrote:Fisher promotes assistant Jon Deedrick to Head Coach

I expected this to happen after Jake Palmer was given an admin job at the elementary school last year.

I had the privilege to coach Jake and Deedrick when I student taught at Villa Grove. Deeds will do a great job for Bunnies.

Dupo is open. Coach is taking the HFC position at Ft Zumwalt East, MO.

Gridiron Guy wrote:Dupo is open. Coach is taking the HFC position at Ft Zumwalt East, MO.

congrats to coach day! his dad used to be the head coach at west.

dusty7 wrote:

Bighitter11 wrote:Fisher promotes assistant Jon Deedrick to Head Coach

I expected this to happen after Jake Palmer was given an admin job at the elementary school last year.  

I had the privilege to coach Jake and Deedrick when I student taught at Villa Grove.  Deeds will do a great job for Bunnies.  

Interesting twist the News Gazette ran a story today about Fisher looking for a football coach.

newman central catholic is filled
https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/news/2022/03/31/football-newman-hires-alum-lemay-as-new-football-coach/

Bighitter11 wrote:

dusty7 wrote:

Bighitter11 wrote:Fisher promotes assistant Jon Deedrick to Head Coach

I expected this to happen after Jake Palmer was given an admin job at the elementary school last year.  

I had the privilege to coach Jake and Deedrick when I student taught at Villa Grove.  Deeds will do a great job for Bunnies.  

Interesting twist the News Gazette ran a story today about Fisher looking for a football coach.

i can't find the article. can someone post this?

tps wrote:newman central catholic is filled
https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/news/2022/03/31/football-newman-hires-alum-lemay-as-new-football-coach/

and this won't let me read it. with?

net wrote:

tps wrote:newman central catholic is filled
https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/news/2022/03/31/football-newman-hires-alum-lemay-as-new-football-coach/

and this won't let me read it. with?

paywall? i'm not subscribed...

text of article

Even though Mike LeMay has been in his hometown for the past decade, the
2006 Newman grad will still be having a bit of a homecoming next fall.
The former Comet will return to his alma mater as the new football coach,
replacing Brandon Kreczmer, who left in January to become an assistant
coach at Western Illinois University.
LeMay was a Newman assistant coach for one year in 2011, then went a
couple miles down the road and served as an assistant at Sterling for the last
10 years, spending the last several of those as Jon Schlemmer’s defensive
coordinator. The Golden Warriors went 82-24 during LeMay’s time there,
and made the playoffs eight times.
But when the Newman job came open, LeMay heard from several fellow
former Comets who thought he should make the move back to where he
started.
“I was contacted by different alums that have been back in Sterling,
approached by lots of people about it, just discussing things with that,”
LeMay said. “I knew the job was open, but it never really crossed my mind,
because everything has been so good at Sterling.
“But the administration from Newman reached out and said it would be great
to see my application come across their desks, because they’d heard nothing
but good things about me, and I figured I’d try to give it a shot and have a
conversation about it to see if it would work out. Everything kind of came
together after that.”
LeMay is also a social studies teacher at Sterling, and he’ll finish out this
school year in that post before taking over the same position at Newman
starting next fall.
LeMay played football and ran track, and also played basketball for a couple
of years and wrestled for a couple of others at Newman. He was a junior on
the 2004 Comet squad that won the Class 2A state championship.
He also played four years of football at St. Ambrose University, where he was
a standout linebacker and defensive end for the Fighting Bees.
He’s followed his alma mater through the years, though not as closely as one
would think with him being right in town. But with his focus on the Golden
Warriors, he isn’t quite as in-tune with the current Comets as one would
expect.
“I’ve always kind of lived by the saying ‘Worry about where your butt’s at
now,’ and that’s exactly what I did at Sterling,” LeMay said. “I was focused
on those kids and that coaching staff, and you get so wrapped up that it’s
tough to follow along during the season.
“But I’ve talked with some of the coaches that I had there as a player,
whether it be Coach [Andy] Accardi, Coach [Tim] Nelson, Paul Magnafici,
even Brandon a few times. Obviously I wanted Newman to continue to be a
strong, successful program, and it’s easy to follow that way when they’re
having that playoff success.”
LeMay’s first coaching job out of college was at Alleman High School in Rock
Island, where he was a member of the coaching staff on the 2010 Pioneers
team that finished second in the state in Class 4A.
LeMay’s success on the field and on the sideline as an assistant, as well as his
ties to Newman, made him the ideal choice for the job, said Newman athletic
director Justin Stevenson.
“Mike knows what Newman football means to our school and community,
and his leadership is exactly what is needed to move the football program
forward,” Stevenson said in a press release. “The Newman family is beyond
excited to bring an alum back to lead our football program. It’s great to bring
Mike back home to his Newman family.”
In three seasons as head coach, Kreczmer led the Comets to a 23-6 record
and the playoffs twice (there was no postseason in 2020-21), guiding
Newman to the Class 2A state title in his first season in 2019.
Before that, hall of famer Mike Papoccia led Newman for 38 seasons,
amassing a 340-99 record and five state championships. The Comets made
the playoffs 29 times under Papoccia, adding a pair of state runner-up
finishes to those five titles.
Newman has made the playoffs the last 20 seasons in which they were held,
and in 27 of the last 28. LeMay knows the track record, and is excited to come
back and be a part of it again.
“To me, Newman is the epitome of the tradition for a football program, in a
lot of aspects,” LeMay said. “It’s a very rich history, and being a player there
and coaching there for one year, it’s a part of everything you do.
“Now, coming back around here, I want to carry on that tradition. It’s
important to me, it’s important to the coaches, it’s important to the players.
It’s reiterated quite a bit through the years, and it’s a big part of what the
school and the program is. I’m excited for the chance to keep that going.

thanks tps.

net wrote:

Bighitter11 wrote:

dusty7 wrote:

Bighitter11 wrote:Fisher promotes assistant Jon Deedrick to Head Coach

I expected this to happen after Jake Palmer was given an admin job at the elementary school last year.  

I had the privilege to coach Jake and Deedrick when I student taught at Villa Grove.  Deeds will do a great job for Bunnies.  

Interesting twist the News Gazette ran a story today about Fisher looking for a football coach.

i can't find the article. can someone post this?

Correction it was a tweet I saw no article

https://twitter.com/clikasNG/status/1509286528920571922

net wrote:thanks tps.

Yw

Oregon filled
https://twitter.com/OregonHawks/status/1510988139766194177

springfield hs is taking a name to the boe tonight.

net wrote:springfield hs is taking a name to the boe tonight.

congrats john hebb! shs stayed in house and selected their oc!

SHG OC John Allison will become the next HC at the school after Ken Leonard steps down after this season. Not the least bit surprised by this.

Aquin HC Broc Kundert going to Oregon. Aquin is open.

Rockridge is open but just for a few seconds. Jeff Henry steps down and Sam Graves is going to come back as HC

Bighitter11 wrote:Rockridge is open but just for a few seconds.  Jeff Henry steps down and Sam Graves is going to come back as HC

From what I hear it sounds like they will a pretty solid team next year. Seems like this may have been planned with the new hire being so quick.