He did go home again

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Things have certainly come full circle for Lemont High School head football coach Eric Michaelsen.

A 1981 graduate of the school, Michaelsen not only is the coach of the two-time IHSA Class 6A runner-up Indians football team but can personally speak to the tradition of the program as a former player.

Over the past seven-plus years, Michaelsen has built a program that started out in relative obscurity to one that is now widely recognized across the state while developing and instilling a winning tradition.

Lemont is 64-22 (.744) under Michaelsen's tenure as coach. As the 2009 season progresses, the Indians look to not only stay in the hunt for the South Suburban Blue championship, but more importantly avenge state title losses to Sacred-Heart Griffin (37-15) in 2008 and to Joliet Catholic (49-7) in 2007.

"Every year is different but do I wish that we would have won last year, of course I do," Michaelsen said. "It was not a disappointing season and in fact it was the best season in school history. If I am going to be disappointed with ending up second in state, then I am in the wrong business."

Winning and Lemont football seem to go hand-in-hand over past several years and six games into the schedule, 2009 appears to be right in-step. Lemont has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 199-51 and is on a mission that hopefully the third time at a state championship will be the charm.

"I played here at Lemont and enjoyed it and had a real good experience," Michaelsen said. "With being good over the past several years, it has raised expectations and raised the level of awareness around here. We will deal with that just like we dealt with it in the past. Our kids are good. I think the coaches that I have do a great job and this team will be what it should be."

Michaelsen started his football coaching career at Lutheran West High School in Detroit in 1989 where he led them to an 8-3 record.

Michaelsen then left Lutheran West the next year to become head football coach of Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park.

Michaelsen coached there from 1990 to 1996 and amassed a 51-22 (.699) record while at Walther Lutheran. Michaelsen then left Walther Lutheran for an opportunity to return to his alma mater in Lemont and be an assistant coach under then varsity coach Jim Driscoll.

"I went and played (football) at Concordia (College) in Illinois and then I student-taught during my senior year and at that time I coached as well and enjoyed it," Michaelsen said. "My first job was in Detroit and I got to coach with a hall-of-fame coach. It was a small school. The first year I was on JV and the second year I was varsity defensive coordinator and by the fifth year I was the head coach.

"Then I came back to Illinois at Walther Lutheran where I was head coach there for seven years. Then Jim Driscoll became the coach here and asked me if I wanted to come back and coach here. So I came back and coached the sophomores for a couple of years and then helped Jim coach the varsity and then I became the head coach here."

In addition to Michaelsen's impressive winning coaching record, the fact that he gets the very best out of his student-athletes is most telling. Michaelsen has surrounded himself with a coaching staff that not only prepares its players for their weekly games but prepares them on a daily basis for life and what lies ahead in their futures.

"It's a great profession being able to do teaching and coaching," Michaelsen said. "I can't think of anything for myself to be as rewarding to watch these kids develop and even those that (mess) up and make themselves better and be a positive influence. I find myself lucky to work with some really outstanding people which are role models for some of these kids."

Being a positive role model to kids would seem to be second nature for Michaelsen, as he currently serves as the head guidance counselor at Lemont.

With that said, Michaelsen is quick to credit not only his parents, who attend every game, but his wife and three daughters as reasons why he is able to be successful at what he does.

"My parents are real important to me as they live in-town," Michaelsen said. "My mom graduated from here and my uncles played here, so it has been a Lemont family. My dad has been super-supportive of me. They go to all of the games. They would go to games in college where I didn't get a chance to play a lot and they would go to games when I was in Detroit to see me. They are just a great set of parents and I could not have asked for anything better. My wife and family deserve a great deal of credit because there are many sacrifices that are made when you are a football coach."

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