The Search is on : Candidates surface for vacant coaching position
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| Current Morris football coaches (from left) Alan Thorson and Dave Auwerda have an obvious interest in the route that MCHS takes to fill the vacant head coaching position. Others like Ken Miller of Coal City and Jeff Reents of Wilmington are considered qualified candidates for the job and would seem like a good fit to take over the helm of the Redskins. (Photos by T.G. Smith and Adam Nekola / Fred Ruetz / and Elaine Fisher, Free Press Newspapers) |
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The search is on for the next J.S. Crabtree — or maybe the next Paul Swofford, Joe Hall or Larry Kane. All were successful football coaches leading up the modern totem pole at Morris Community High School.
As of the end of Monday's District 101 school board meeting where George Dergo stepped down as football coach, the search was on for the next leader of the Redskins.
J.S. Crabtree was the first memorable coach in Morris lore, taking the helm of the Redskins from 1928 through 1936 where he compiled a 29-29-1 record. That was an MCHS milestone for wins in a career, and it lasted — get this — 34 years before it was broken in 1970 by Larry Kane. Kane would go on to post a record of 42-21-2 from 1966-'72 — a record that would stand another 11 years before Dan Darlington obliterated it. In 28 years, he finished with a mark of 264-55.
Crabtree coached 9 seasons in Morris which is an eternity when the history of the program is taken into consideration. Factor in that in the 29 years after Crabtree's retirement, MCHS went through 13 different skippers and you'll realize. The last coach in that span was Joe Hall who went 15-3 in two years ('64 and '65), but in between (1937 through 1963) the Redskins were 74-128-9 on the gridiron. The only winning coach in that time was Swofford (19-7) from 1947 through 1949.
Funny enough, but Hall's 15 wins ranks him 6th on the all-time list at MCHS and Swofford is fifth with 19 ... then Crabtree (29), Kane (42) and Dergo, the later retiring from coaching after five years and a 45-17 record.
And now the search is on for the District 101 Board and MCHS Administration to find the next best football coach.
Much of the debate about the subject surrounds whether the locals will be looking for someone in house or if they will look outside the building to bring someone in. The last three times Morris hired a football coach, Don Funte in 1976, Darlington in 1977 and Dergo in 2005 all came as in-house/town selections. On the flip side, the last time Morris hired someone to come in from outside of the district to be the head football coach was in 1973 when they hired Dick Raber away from Dixon.
Four candidates to fill the void came to mind right away when Dergo rocked Morris Nation with the announcement on Monday. Two coming from within the building and two outside the building. After asking a few questions, it became pretty clear to me that the two from outside the building are comfortable where they are and they were not interested in the job — at least at the present time. Here's precisely my thinking on this.
The No. 1 candidate for the vacant head football coach is Jeff Reents of Wilmington. Jeff is a former Redskins' player who is enshrined by Eureka College in its Hall of Fame as a player. He's now 39 years old and the assistant principal at the school. He's been coaching the Wildcats since 1994, compiling a 137-41 record. That includes 14 straight playoff appearances and a runner-up finish at state.
Sounds ideal, except he's an administrator and Morris isn't hiring one. Besides, he and his family are quite comfortable with the life they've built out east.
"First of all, I want to congratulate coach Dergo and his staff on an outstanding job, and wish them all the best of luck," Reents said. "I am sure the administration at MCHS will go a great job in finding the right person for the job. Morris has, and always will be close to my heart, but it would be a tough fit for me and my family at the present time."
The other person I considered right away was Ken W. Miller from Coal City. Even though he's now 51, he revealed to Dick Steele this past fall in one of his columns that he might be interested in coming out of retirement to coach. He had previously coached 19 years at Coal City and Carthage, compiling a 146-54 record, which included a state title with the Coalers in 1993 and a runner-up performance with the Blue Boys in 1984.
One other obvious connection is that Miller and current MCHS Superintendent Pat Halloran had worked together for years over in Coal City.
Still, Miller said that the time has not yet come for him to dust off his whistle and contemplate his options.
"I have no interest at this time," he said. "I retire from administration in three years. Then we'll see what happens."
One of the things that Dergo was most happy about in his time as football coach and AD is the staff that he has put together. It stands as one of his badges of honor and I know he'll be glad to talk to you about them if you feel like picking his ear.
To me, the two most likely in-house candidates to be interviewed are Dave Auwerda and Alan Thorson, though Jon Lanning, John Courter and Bill Lauer are also MCHS teachers who have certainly helped the football team immensely since signing on with the program. The other candidates who are non-faculty coaches, including Andy and Tom Peterson, can't be hired for the job unless nobody in-house wants it, as per MCHS policy. And it's safe to say that both Thorson and Auwerda are interested in the job.
We'll start with Auwerda, just by going in alphabetical order.
He's been at Morris for the last 16 years coaching football and his first year was spent coaching at Decatur St. Teresa. He has worked faithfully at all different levels for both the Darlington and Dergo tenures. He's 38 years old.
"Being here at MCHS for 17 years, I've come to recognize that the head football position here is a tremendous opportunity," he said. "I'm sure the position will bring interest from many excellent candidates. Whoever the next coach may be, there is a great deal of potential for success. The foundation has been laid, and the tradition exists to make the next few seasons very exciting for the football program here in Morris."
For four of the past five seasons, Auwerda has been an assistant varsity coach with Dergo and he's been with the varsity squad to state five times in his tenure here.
The other in-house guy is Thorson. He's been the head sophomore coach at MCHS for the past five seasons after coming over from Plainfield South and University High. In total, he has nine years experience coaching football and he's compiled a record of 32-11-2. His teams have gone 8-1 in each of the past two seasons.
"For the past five years, I have been the head sophomore football coach at Morris, and I could not be happier here," he said. "We have a great community with terrific parents and fans that support our program, to go with a great group of kids who work hard both on and off the field. To me, there isn't a better football program in the State of Illinois; we have celebrated tradition here and it has been an honor to be a part of these past five years. I would love the opportunity to be the next head football coach at Morris High School and carry on the winning tradition that is Morris football."
It would be interesting to see how many people apply for the opening. With the combination of openings in the math, P.E. and English departments, a highly-qualified interested party from outside the district could make the decision-making process a difficult one for the MCHS administration and board.
"We won't share names and numbers of applications, but typically with P.E. openings, we receive between 75-100 applications. As far as head football coach, I expect that we will have plenty of qualified internal and external candidates apply. And yes, we had applications come in on Tuesday morning," Morris Superintendent Pat Halloran said with a smile.
Stay tuned.
