Whalen's out as Elk Grove's coach

Posted November 21, 2008 10:00 pm

By Marty Maciaszek

Elk Grove's football program appeared to be making progress in the right direction this season under Tom Whalen.

The Grenadiers were more competitive, pulled a late-season upset of Buffalo Grove and have a talented group of underclassmen on the way.

Unfortunately for Whalen, he was informed Thursday by school administrators he won't be a part of the Grenadiers' future as he was relieved of his head coaching duties after four seasons.

"They just told me they wanted to take the football program in another direction," said Whalen, who informed his players of the decision at a meeting Friday. "I want to wish Elk Grove football the best of luck and I'm looking forward to any future opportunities I may have to coach."

Whalen was 7-29 in his tenure and his first team in 2005 went 4-5 and just missed making the playoffs. This year's 2-7 finish was part of a progression from 1 win last year and a winless finish two years ago.

Whalen took over after Bruce Bazsali retired. Whalen was the defensive coordinator when the Grenadiers had a perfect regular season and reached the Class 7A quarterfinals.

"I appreciate the opportunities I had," Whalen said. "I'm proud of what we did at Elk Grove, proud of the people I worked with and proud of what the kids did.

"The kids played their hearts out and the coaching staff coached to the best of their abilities. I believe in the way we do things and that we did things right."

Whalen said the toughest part was the meeting with his players.

"I told them I'd help them in any way I can in the future," Whalen said, "but I'm just not going to be their head football coach anymore."

But it shouldn't be long before the 1993 Wheeling graduate and all-Mid-Suburban League lineman lands on another coaching staff. Whalen played and coached at North Central College and also coached for a year at Naperville Central and two years at Prospect.

"I'm going to coach football somewhere," Whalen said. "I've made that abundantly clear to everybody. It's just not at Elk Grove anymore."

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