Mitz expects to build a winner at Jacobs

The hiring of Bill Mitz as the next football coach at Jacobs High School in Algonquin was finalized Monday. Today, he begins the process of transforming the program into a consistent winner.

Mitz, who stepped down as Stevenson coach last fall after 28 years, will meet with Jacobs football players today. He will also interview members of the football coaching staff.

Mitz takes over a program that went 55-68 the last 13 seasons under former coach Dean Schlueter, who was not retained after the season. The Golden Eagles have made five playoff appearances in their 35-year history, four under Schlueter. The program's overall record is 109-214, a winning percentage of .314.

Mitz's message to the players will be straightforward: Jacobs can win.

"There's no difference if you're at Mt. Carmel, Maine South, Stevenson, Buffalo Grove, Cary-Grove or Jacobs," Mitz said. "You have to get the kids to believe in what you're doing. You've got to get that attitude that when you walk on the field you believe in your heart you're going to win. I think that's the one thing. We'll get in there and get them positive and get them ready to play football.

"They will know how to block and tackle, I can guarantee you that."

Mitz will retire from Stevenson as a teacher at the end of the school year. His teams reached the state playoffs the last 21 consecutive seasons and amassed double-digit victories five times. A member of the Illinois Football Coaches Hall of Fame, he owns a career winning percentage of .668 (197-98).

"To be able to get a candidate of his stature in the football arena - a coaches hall of fame member, 21 consecutive playoff appearances - we were very fortunate," Jacobs athletic director Tom Ross said. "We had four very good candidates, but we felt Bill's credentials outshined the three other applicants. What we especially liked was his 100 former players playing at the college level. Everything he does is very impressive."

Ross would like Mitz to tap into a pool of potential football players in the student body who have not been participating in the sport.

"What we need our new coach to do is to get our athletes onto the playing field," Ross said. "It's kind of a change in philosophy of having multiple-sport athletes instead of having athletes concentrate on one sport year round. I think that's a philosophy now shared by our baseball coach (Eric Sanders), our basketball coach (Jim Hinkle) and our football coach."

Mitz intends to work at Jacobs in a paraprofessional capacity during the day. "I'm not just coming to coach," he said. "I want to be there during the school day to talk to kids and recruit kids and get things going."

Ross said details of Mitz's position within the school won't be finalized until available positions are known late this summer. "Our goal is to try to get him in the building to have that interaction with our student-athletes in the hallways," Ross said.

Mitz will honor his commitment to coach track at Stevenson this spring, all the while looking forward to Jacobs football camp in June. He said he knew within weeks of stepping down at Stevenson that coaching still had a firm grip on him.

"The biggest thing is you do this because, as a coach, I can't live without it right now," Mitz said. "It's not like I'm 80 years old here. I'm 54 years old and I still have a burning desire to coach. It's just that my chapter at Stevenson was over just because of the way the situation is in education.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity at Jacobs. When I had the opportunity to come to Stevenson we were switching leagues and we weren't doing very well. We built that program. I'm coming in here to build this program into a great tradition."