NEW LIONS COACH TAKES THE HELM AT LT

Kurt Weinberg is a serious football coach with an unmatched winning spirit.

So much so that he has already convinced his Lyons Township High School Lions varsity football squad and LT's active parent athletic boosters that they just might take the state championship this season.

With his signature "all in or not at all" credo that helped catapult his former high school football team -- Class 6A Highland Park -- to six consecutive playoffs in nine seasons (including an undefeated CSL North championship), he is already is doing well in filling the shoes of former 19-year veteran LT head football coach Jack Derning.

The year 2008 was the first time in seven years the Lions did not qualify for postseason.

With one winning game under his belt (a 31-8 barn burner over Plainfield Central on the road last week), things can only go up from here.

Especially with a head coach who was not only a former offensive lineman standout at NIU (1988-92) who walked on to start and earned a scholarship 18 months later, but one who comes to the fore with the reputation of creating a culture of winning. This is a guy who takes football seriously.

Weinberg (pronounced WEEN-BERG), who also serves as a physical education teacher, is not your average jock. He holds a bachelor's in secondary P.E. from Northern Illinois and a master's degree in curiculum and instruction from National-Louis University.

Originally a pre-journalism major, he's always loved to read and write, and draws his greatest educational inspiration not from a gridiron great (although he has a few heroes) but one Paul Carlson, his high school history teacher who spent 50 years on the faculty at Maine East.

Although he admits football has been "a lifetime passion," he said Carlson -- and his Highland Park predecessor who took the time to train him before moving on -- were very influential mentors in his life.

"(Carlson) was a combination of making you toe the line and having compassion for you at the same time," he recalled. "He held you to a high standard and wasn't going to let you slide by. He made history come alive and made it personal."

Weinberg enjoys reading the books of Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and has always appreciated longtime University of Alabama head coach Paul William "Bear" Bryant and former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi.

For a guy who told a newspaper last fall that leaving Highland Park was "the hardest thing" he's ever done and whose former athletic director, Bobbie Monroe, was quoted in the same paper as saying she wishes she could clone him -- this coach is obviously special -- one who shows his emotions and causes others to display theirs in return.

In fact, leaving was so tough on some of his key players that it took time for the wounds to heal among some of former seniors. He continues his friendship with some of those very kids by "text messaging" them to keep up with their progress. How cool.

"We had it going pretty good over there," he said. "We had a good run."

LT has twice the enrollment of HP, and twice the roster. LT's hovers around 86, while HP's is in the high 40s.

Starting two jobs at once is tough, he remarked, but having the time to work with his team this summer to prepare for the fall season left him convinced the Lions are tougher.

"I think they are athletically talented, they have a good combination of size and speed and their work ethic shows they are very committed," he said. "I'm very pleased. They're a great bunch of guys; real gentlemen, yet a little nasty when they need to be on the field."

LT, which faces Addison Trail in its first home game this weekend (7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4), will face some pretty tough teams this year, not the least of which will be Hinsdale Central (Sept. 18, away) and Glenbard West (Oct. 23, at home), he said.

AT, which he called "a team on the rise" with fast and quick but not overly big players, has several sophomores on its varsity squad, unlike LT -- which has all juniors and seniors.

"This (Class 8A) conference, top to bottom, is one opf the toughest in the state," he said. "We'll have no week off."

He's already witnessed the prowess of senior QB Ryan Mitchell, a fast runner "at the top of his game" whom Weinberg dubs "one of the best kept secrets in the state."

Mitchell's father, former University of Chicago football coach Tom Mitchell (whose father also was a coach) is among his assistants this season. Tim McAlpin has also been added this year.

In last Friday's matchup, which left Plainfield scoreless until late in the final quarter, Mitchell ran an impressive 12 for 20 with 140 yards and two touchdowns and rushed a team-high 70 yards.

That game "solidified" for Mitchell what level athlete he is, making his scholarship chances good at his post-secondary favorites Georgia Tech, Northwestern or Air Force,

He has yet to experience a game on the home field at LT's South campus, but he's been prepped by those in the PRIDE booster club that this is truly a hometown team.

"The like the people around here, they are great and from what I'm told really pack the stands," he said. "This place has the facilities, the finances, the athleticism, the numbers, the support, which are always attractive (traits)."

Weinberg, who has already been warmly welcomed by an excited group of parents and staff, said he wants to keep some traditions intact, but also wants to usher in some new ways of looking at the game.

First and foremost is the Thursday night "training table" in which the Moms feed the whole program -- about 300 bodies -- a large, carbilicious meal like pasta and pizza, to bulk up the players before each game. The dinner is held in the student cafeteria.

But he has assembled a new offense and defense, has shuffled coaches around from level to level

Although he knows that winning spirit has been here before, Weinberg sees state as the ultimate goal, something to strive for all season.

"We've brought it more to the forefront, that's all," he said, noting one win "solidifies for us we can achieve high goals."

He said he hopes to instill "a greater desire to achieve, to be good."

And when he's not playing coach, the far north suburban Gurnee resident and (oops) Oakland Raiders fan is enjoying the outdoors fishing, snowmobiling or just being with nature. He says he may even do team-building with his players by doing "some things outside the lines" -- like the time he and his former team played paintball.

"We also had one year in which we all read the same book and talked about it," he said, always the well-rounded educator.

But more often than not, he and his wife, Ramone, are tending to their three boys and a girl, ages 10, 9, 7 and 4, The two oldest boys will likely become fixtures on the sidelines, as ball boys helping Dad, he said.

"The two oldest (10 and 9) play and I think they'll enjoy coming to the game Friday," he said. "Coaching football is part of my family's fabric."