Some longtime assistants don't seek spotlight

Lowell assistant coach Brad Stewart watches two linebackers during a drill at a recent practice.
(Scott M. Bort/Post-Tribune)

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It's not always about being the big boss man.

Sometimes you just love what you're doing in your given position at your given place of employment.

Simply put, you're perfectly content in being No. 2 on the totem pole -- the assistant coach rather than head coach.

A handful of assistants in Northwest Indiana fit that description as they stay loyal for different reasons.

Some have just been at the school and living in the community for so long, it's in their blood. Others have grown to love the community and program despite growing up in another area of the region. Still others have stuck with the program through ups and downs, almost leaving for good, but then returning to find a situation that fits to a tee.

The common trait among them all is that they love what they do and have no thoughts of stepping on toes.

Undying loyalty

Lowell head coach Kirk Kennedy has to chuckle when describing meetings between himself and his four assistants -- Jim Carlson, Brad Stewart, Keith Kilmer and Jim Kiechle, who is affectionately called "grandpa" by coaches and players.

"If you would attend one of our staff meetings, you'd see four guys sitting around talking about something, maybe even arguing, and I would be off in the distance ... you would think I was indifferent or not even paying attention," Kennedy said.

"Then once they have their say, I come in and say, 'This is what we're going to do,' and it's probably a little bit of what each of them said. Our important decisions are made as a unit. We're together so much socially away from the game and in the offseason."

The relationship Kennedy has with his two main assistant coaches -- offensive coordinator Carlson and defensive coordinator Stewart -- goes well beyond any light-hearted argument-filled meetings. It's about loyalty that isn't seen at most schools.

Carlson first arrived on Lowell's staff in 1990 a year after Kennedy became an assistant. Stewart had been an assistant with four previous Lowell head coaches (Al Holok, Joe Lorig, Bill Brechler and Paul Cesaretti) before taking a two-year hiatus to coach under Les Thornton at Griffith. Stewart returned when Kennedy became the head coach in 1991.

"I've always enjoyed working with the kids, and with the exception of one of the coaches I worked for, I've always felt we could improve and out-work our opponents," Stewart said. "That just never materialized until Kirk came along and was able to change the attitude."

Stewart admitted he wasn't totally on board with Kennedy at first, but the words trust and responsibility changed that in a hurry.

"Kirk came in as a pretty young head coach and at first I wasn't sure I wanted to work for Kirk," Stewart said. "But in that first year he delegated a lot of power. He gave us a lot of responsibilities and in return we gave him a good work ethic and it created a bond. Since he was able to delegate and show loyalty to us, we have undying loyalty to him. I've never had a coach delegate as much as him."

It was an easy decision for Kennedy. He might have gone out on a limb in that first year by delegating so much, but 17 years later it's worked out pretty well.

"The number one aspect is loyalty. When you've been together this long it takes a huge amount of loyalty and putting the program first ahead of individual needs," Kennedy said.

"The second thing is they're very competent coaches. Brad is the head coach of the defense and Jim is pretty much the head coach of the offense. They do the film study. They formulate the game plan. They might shoot something by me, but for the most part they're responsible for the offense and defense. You have to have good coaches to be able to delegate so much. A big thing in our staff that allows everyone to work so well together is that no one has an ego."

Not for the money

Carlson moved to Lowell in 1973 after living in Hammond and graduating from Hammond Tech. What convinced him to stay loyal to the Red Devils despite being in his words, "a Hammond boy" was the kids.

"When I moved down here in 1973 they weren't very good. I watched and watched and I always felt they could be a a lot better than they were and I wanted to help," he said.

"In 1989, that's when I talked to coaches around here trying to get in because I felt like they needed somebody who was dedicated and put in the time, not doing it just for the money. Some people might take offense at that, thinking I'm saying they did it just for the money, but that's the impression I got."

Carlson specifically remembers the 1990 season when the Red Devils finished 2-7. The last three games were quite forgettable -- 50-0 loss at Lake Central, 41-0 loss against Highland and 41-0 loss at Andrean in the sectional. But his memory isn't negative.

"To see those kids still show up every day and work hard in practice, I'd walk through a wall for them and they'd walk through walls for us," he said. "We wouldn't trade it for anything. It's not hard to be loyal to kids who have worked hard."

Both Carlson and Stewart could be head coaches somewhere else. Stewart admitted to applying for Lowell's head coaching job a couple years before Kennedy got it.

He's also thought about other jobs a couple times -- he's from the South Bend area and his parents are in their 80s so returning to that area to be close to them has crossed his mind. But the 54-year-old realizes it couldn't be better than his current situation.

"(Kennedy) gave me the perfect job -- I get to design the defenses. I get to call the defenses. I get to put the defenses in, and when it doesn't work he takes all the heat," Stewart said. "How can you get a better job than that? He never points the finger. It's always, 'The buck stops there.' He always takes any criticism himself."

Ingot pride

More than 20 years after John Thomas graduated from River Forest, he was in his second year as an assistant football coach on the magical 1990 team that fell one point short a state title.

That 1990 Ingots' squad lost the Class 2A state final 28-27 to Indianapolis Scecina.

"What was really great about that team is that kids really took initiative two or three years earlier, running the beaches, working hard," Thomas recalled. "We have a nice group now for a Class A school and if they stick together, hang out in the summer and we go to some camps, that's how you build unity."

Thomas is the rare assistant who has survived multiple head coaches -- current head coach Jeff Bean is No. 6 in Thomas' 20 years. But he's also rare in that he's loyal to the River Forest area as much as the program.

"It's community pride," he said. "There are a lot of kids here less fortunate than other kids. You get a family atmosphere with this group of boys. Just look at them ... we have all walks of life here. I grew up in the same situation. We're not a real rich community -- we're not a Valpo where we have everything. There's a little personal pride we try to keep in this community."

Thomas learned that loyalty to his community from a legend on the other side of town when he was a student teacher at Hobart High School.

"That's what Coach (Don) Howell was -- a township boy who went to Hobart and stayed at Hobart," Thomas of the Brickies' longtime head coach. "He went there and stayed there as a coach and Coach (Tom) Kerr stayed with him. That's how you build things."

Kerr has returned to Hobart to help head coach Wally McCormack continue the Brickie winning tradition. McCormack also has the help of head freshman coach Steve Balash, who has also coached wrestling for more than 35 years.

"They're great resources and a great example for kids and other people in the profession," McCormack said about his assistants. "They're the kind of guys as a young coach and teacher, you couldn't go wrong emulating them."

At River Forest, Thomas has been the only football constant. In order, he has worked under Dennis Leonard, who is now the Ingots' athletic director; Tom Redman; Sherwood Haydock; Tim Gault; Dave Blevins and now Bean, whom Thomas hopes will stay for a while to build some Ingot pride.

Bean appreciates having the 58-year-old Thomas around in his second year as head coach.

"He's a welcome source of knowledge I can bounce ideas off of left and right," Bean said. "He's been around this game for a long time and seen everything from A to Z.

"Coach Thomas grew up in this area, graduated from this school and has been an assistant a long time, so one of the first things I asked him was about the area, the history and an idea of the players and climate of the school."

The 33-year-old Bean said he also looks at Thomas as his father figure in this area since Bean isn't from the region.

Over the course of 20 years, Thomas had to get the itch of being a head coach at least once or twice, right?

"Way back when I started when I was (an assistant) at Lake Station for a couple years, that was the only time I ever applied for a head coaching job. and they picked somebody else," he said. "Being a head coach is a special thing and you have to be dedicated and loyal. I get off work at 3:30 (at Lake Station Parks Department) and then come here, so that makes it hard to be a head coach. But I still get to coach and have fun."

Contact Steve T. Gorches at 648-3141, sgorches@post-trib.com or visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches.