A more demanding profession
Modern challenges make coaching high school football as difficult as ever
Around here, the preseason's biggest high school football news didn't come when a major-college recruit was busted for having a beer in his hand or booze on his breath.
No, it was more about procedure than partying -- IHSA bylaws, not law and order. Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti and Maine South offensive coordinator Charlie Bliss generated headlines earlier this month for the suspensions they received.
Lenti -- who has led the Caravan to 284 wins and nine state titles in the past 25 years -- will miss the season's first two games because of marketing letters the school sent out to potential students. Those documents were reportedly found to be recruiting violations.
Last year, Bliss helped guide the Hawks to a 14-0 season and a Class 8A championship. He also helped groom quarterback Charlie Goro for Vanderbilt. The offensive coordinator will begin this season serving a one-game suspension for the free quarterback camp he ran during the offseason.
This is not to debate whether the IHSA was right or wrong in handing out those punishments. What's far more interesting is looking at the context in which those coaches now do their jobs. Because without a doubt the profession has become more demanding.
Naperville Central coach Mike Stine and Metea Valley coach Ted Monken grew up around the game. Combined, their fathers ran the programs at Byron and Lake Park for 67 years, accumulating 373 victories and winning roughly 60 percent of their games. They've seen how the position has changed.
"Everything's doubled and magnified," Stine said.
A generation ago, Central might have had 35 players on the varsity roster and 140 kids in the program, supervised by a staff of six coaches. Now the Redhawks will dress about 100 for varsity. Take all the levels together this season and there will be around 30 coaches for 250 players.
"For me, it's like managing a small corporation," Stine said. "It's hard to have time when you're the head coach to coach. You're doing (all) that other stuff."
Stine summarized the cultural currents that coaches have to swim with: "There's more youth football. The media is (bigger) now. College recruiting is a bigger business."
The idea of an offseason officially vanished earlier this decade, once the IHSA allowed coaches to spend up to 25 contact days with their players each summer. That rule increased work in helmets and shoulder pads and helped 7-on-7 passing camps explode across the state.
"The numbers, the volumes of kids in the big programs these days keeps growing and growing," said Monken, who left St. Charles East for the new District 204 high school. "It would not be unreasonable for us to have over 200 kids in our program."
Eventually, the initial groups of freshmen and sophomores at Metea will develop into upperclassmen. The program will compete on the varsity level beginning in 2010. That will create an entirely different set of issues, as Monken explained: "The pull of college recruiters after your players, (the) information that has to be received and sent back out, film, all that stuff keeps growing over time."
Neuqua Valley now has a cool Web site that details the program's history and current practice schedule. It contains links to the school's athletic registration and an NCAA clearinghouse. Those are obvious ways in which interaction has changed. But even face-to-face instruction isn't the same.
"Years and years ago you could (say) things to players (differently)," Monken said. "You have to walk around a little bit on eggshells. There's constant worry about...'Did I say the wrong thing? Am I gonna get sued?'"
Suspended or not, all coaches in 2009 have to deal with this new reality. They will be under a much-sharper microscope.
