Kozlowski seeing North Chicago red ... and liking it

For a guy who never taught a single class at Wauconda, Glen Kozlowski sure spent plenty of time there letting a lot of kids know he had their back.

And we're not talking about the thousands of hours he spent coaching the football team the last seven years.

Kozlowski was a regular at Wauconda basketball games and, being the competitor that he always has been, whether on NFL fields or high school sidelines, he rarely could control himself. He made sure basketball refs heard him, just as he did football officials. He cheered as loud from his bleacher seat as he did from the sideline.

For seven years, the former Bear bled Wauconda purple.

Now, he's seeing red - North Chicago red. Kozlowski made official this week what he kept private last week, that he's accepted the head-coaching position at North Chicago.

When he submitted his resignation at Wauconda, he said the school gave him a window of several days to change his mind. Out of respect, he said he didn't want to make his hiring at North Chicago official until his window to remain at Wauconda had closed.

Once a Wauconda Bulldog, always a Wauconda Bulldog, except for that one week a year now when it's "Wauconda Week" at North Chicago.

"I'd love to see them go 8-1 every year," Kozlowski said of his former team, which like his new team plays in the North Suburban Prairie Division, "with that one loss being to us."

When he showed up at Vernon Hills one night last week to watch the boys basketball game between North Chicago and the host Cougars, it started becoming clear that Kozlowski was about to take over the reigns of a football program that had intrigued him for years.

He says he's already been to three North Chicago basketball games.

"I throw everything into it," said Kozlowski, aware several Warhawks basketball players also play football. "It's important for the kids to see me there. You can say, 'I support you,' but they got to see you supporting them."

A couple of years ago, Kozlowski commented to a friend that he'd love to coach at North Chicago one day. The friend happens to know North Chicago athletic director Jim Hentschel.

So when the Warhawks went looking for a head coach to replace Darryl King, who had taken over for Mike Grenada just before the school year started, Kozlowski's friend gave him a call.

"He said, 'Would you be interested? They would love for you to apply for the job,' " Kozlowski said.

"I figured it was time for me to put my money where my mouth was."

Call it the oil', "If you can't beat him ... hire him."

Wauconda has beaten North Chicago the last three years. Which is a far cry from the first two years Wauconda played North Chicago under Kozlowski. North Chicago thumped the Bulldogs 54-0 in 2002 and 70-0 in 2003.

Those first three years were tough for Kozlowski, who knew he was taking over a major reclamation project. Wauconda had gone 2-7 in 2001 and 1-8 in 2000. Kozlowski, who had never coached before, lost his first 22 games.

After three seasons, his won-lost record was 1-26.

"It's not how you draw it up," Kozlowski said. "But it was OK because the kids were giving their best effort. ... They were laying the foundation for teams that followed."

Wauconda got progressively better, peaking under Kozlowski in 2007 with a 7-2 regular season and the Bulldogs' first state playoff berth since 1998.

The Bulldogs went 4-5 last fall. In what turned out to be, perhaps ironically, Kozlowski's last game as coach, Wauconda beat North Chicago 41-20 in Week 9.

"I'll always pull for Wauconda," Kozlowski said. "Whenever I read the paper, I'll always look to see how Wauconda did."

He feels good knowing the program is in good shape.

"There are a lot of positive things, where Wauconda is positioned to be successful," said Kozlowski, noting the success of the freshman team last fall.

Now he's a Warhawk. He's retained King, and the two coaches will work on fixing what went wrong with a program that went 2-7 last fall and 4-5 in 2007, after making the state playoffs every year from 2001-2006. It was just three years ago that North Chicago advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals.

Kozlowski understands he needs to get more North Chicago kids interested in playing football. He knows he needs to stress to them the importance of showing up every day and, most importantly, doing well in school.

If they want to find him, he'll definitely be around. On Tuesday, he was at Waukegan's jam-packed Dog Pound, cheering on the North Chicago's boys basketball team, which lost to Waukegan 106-88.

"I saw the best basketball game of the year," Kozlowski said. "What a great game. Both teams are extremely skilled."

North Chicago has a new football coach - and one enthusiastic fan.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com