Guest Column
By Todd Schneeman
Bulldog football fan
I had the great opportunity of watching my son play football at Streator High School and to follow his team from freshman to varsity ball, never missing a game. Over the years, I saw competitive improvement, as his team struggled the first 3 seasons. During his first year at varsity level (2007), their record was 2-7. It was after that season that his teammates (the 2008 seniors) would make a commitment to get stronger and better in the off season. Few expected them to become the first Streator team to beat Geneseo or the first ever to win a playoff game. Many thought they’d finish dead last in the NCIC. However, the most important thing is that the 2008 team (juniors and seniors) always believed in themselves and never gave up.
Over the years, I heard the negative remarks about the current head coach and the unrealistic “wait” until we get someone that “bleeds red and white” at the helm. I had also heard the argument that the current coaching staff is not involved enough at the youth football level. I’d hear the old cliché, “Streator is not a football town.” All of these seemed to be offered as a “band-aid” for the real problem that exists with our local high school sports, and that in my opinion, is that we have accepted losing!
Does anyone realize that the current head coach has a better overall winning percentage than the two previous head coaches (and we’ve only had three head coaches in 27 years). According to the IHSA website, Streator has only had four winning seasons since 1983. It is no wonder it took so long to beat a perennial power such as Geneseo. It is also interesting to note that after each successful season, winning did not follow (as the data below illustrates), and on average it has taken our school 7 years for a winning season to return after a successful one.
LINK: MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION
1986-87: 6 - 3
1987-88: 3 – 6
1996-97: 5 - 4
1997-98: 3 – 6
2003-04: 6 – 4
2004-05: 4 - 5
2008-09: 7 - 4
2009-10: 3 – 6
Given the above records, you’d have to go back to the 1970s (and the Coach Jim Young era) to find a team that had a winning record for three consecutive seasons. By the way, Coach Kane tied Coach Young for number of playoff qualifiers.
Since I did not grow up in Streator, I have asked myself time and time again these questions:
1. Why has Streator accepted losing in certain high school sports?
2. Shouldn’t our school board and administration play a more active role in demanding success and using a coaches overall record for evaluating performance?
3. Why don’t more of our talented athletes go on to play college football?
4. Why can’t Streator be a football town?
I am certain that “losing” is just not tolerated in communities such as Amboy, Geneseo, Metamora, Morris, Normal or Spring Valley (just to name a few). The goal of our community should be to have our football team make the playoffs every year! Instead, some hang the blame on a losing season on the coaching staff (year after year) which is just not acceptable. As a community we must put pressure on the school system and pressure the administrators and ultimately the school board for not making winning an expectation.
Whoever takes over the football team in 2010 will certainly have their work cut out for them. It will take time to build a program no matter where the new coach is from. For the sake of the community and our future football players, I hope that as a condition of employment, the new coach understands that winning is our expectation and he should not be made to believe that he will have 7 years to do it.
