Highland gives Bye another shot as coach

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Seven years ago, Ken Bye decided to give up coaching football, vacating the top job at Michigan City to focus on other things, like his home, his personal life, his business.

"It was probably the worst decision I ever made," Bye said. "I mean, it was a good decision because I had so many things on my plate that I couldn't do justice to what I wanted to do in coaching. But what I should have done is cleared off some of the other things and kept coaching."

Well, at age 65, with 21 years as a head coach at five different schools, Bye's back. After several months of trying to help Highland find a new head coach as the school's assistant athletic director, Bye himself got the job at a special school board meeting Tuesday.

His experience -- plus the fact that four of the five jobs he had in the past started as significant rebuilding efforts -- made him a natural choice for a team coming off one win in two years, including an 0-10 season in 2008.

"We were looking for a coach with head coaching experience that has shown he's able to take over some programs and get the numbers back up," said Highland AD Mike Urban. "We felt very comfortable with Ken."

Bye replaced Eric Miller, who was 13-41 in five seasons.

Bye, who will continue to be the assistant AD and attendance officer, was part of the committee tasked with finding a new coach. That group made its recommendation to superintendent Michael Boskovich two weeks ago, but he chose instead to reopen the position.

It wasn't until then that Bye applied.

"I jumped in very late," he said. "When it first opened up, I?probably spent a moment or two thinking about it and that was it. We went through an interviewing process, and things simply didn't work out. When they reopened it, my juices were flowing a little more after having talked football all these months. I talked to my wife and she said, 'Give it a go.' "

Bye was head coach at three Illinois schools -- Newman Central Catholic, Bradley-Bourbannais and Blue Island Eisenhower -- before taking over at Michigan City Elston in 1978. He was 40-43 in eight seasons before moving to Highland to become athletic director. After 12 years at Highland, he got back into coaching in 1998 at the consolidated Michigan City High, where he went 16-26 in four seasons, before retiring. He's been back at Highland for the past three years.

He knows he faces a huge challenge in increasing numbers (both players and wins) at Highland, but it's a challenge he's eager to tackle.

"When I went back to Michigan City after 12 years out of it, it was exciting to me," Bye said. "And now, it's the same thing. I'm nervous, I'm excited, the juices are flowing again. It's a good feeling."