Football lifer takes over Wolfpack

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Guess who's back in the high-school football coaching ranks?

Remember Pat Jennings, who stepped down from the Waukegan job just this school year? He's now the main man of the St. Ignatius Wolfpack varsity football squad.

I talked to Jennings at the boys sectional track meet at Buffalo Grove. He was there to root on his former athletes (he was also an assistant track coach for the Bulldogs) and visit with other Waukeganites.

Turns out the St. Ignatius job opened up somewhat unexpectedly, so he went for it.

Convenience was a big part of his decision to get back into coaching. That, and an obvious love of the game.

Going from Waukegan to St. Ignatius is a bit of a sideways move, with each team finishing at 2-7 last season. But for Jennings, who lives on the North Side of Chicago, the journey to St. Ignatius on the city's West Side is much less taxing than the long daily trek to Waukegan, which he made for four years.

When he left the Bulldog family just six months ago, he cited the need to spend more time with his family of three young sons and wife. Like the countless many before him who use the "spend time" reasoning, Jennings has obviously given in to his passion for sports.

But, in his defense, even with another head coaching job, that increased "family time" will still be answered somewhat through sheer proximity to his new job.

Jennings, a 20-year football coach, was in a tough-to-win situation at Waukegan, where the Bulldogs play in a powerhouse conference that features mighty grid machines like Maine South, Glenbrook South and New Trier.

His chances of putting big seasons together at St. Ignatius are similarly remote, with Fenwick, McNamara, DeLaSalle and St. Laurence as regular opponents in the Catholic League White Division.

Frying pan ... fire.

Add the fact that the Iggy football program will only be in its fifth year, and Jennings appears to have a long slog ahead of him.

But we wish him luck.

Quick hitters ...

* Turn around ... Simon says turn around. When it comes to turning sports programs around (see item above), one need look no further than Lake Zurich's baseball team, which has captured three consecutive North Suburban Conference Lake Division crowns while playing exciting, hard-hitting ball.

"When I came here," said ninth-year head coach Gary Simon, formerly at Wauconda, "the program had four coaches in four years and nobody wanted to come out for the team."

A solid summer program which Simon put in place helped pay huge dividends down the road.

"The guys on this year's team have been playing in that program since they were in fourth grade," Simon said. "You need that base."

* There's more competition ahead for Ceola at Western Illinois.

Nobody ever wants to be in competition with the son of the guy in charge.

But that's the situation Warren alum Ceola Clark will find himself in next season when he takes to the basketball hardwood for Western Illinois University.

The Leathernecks, already loaded with guards (including Ceola), added guard Billy Molinari to next year's roster. His dad is WIU head coach Jim Molinari.

* You can expect to see Kevin Costner at minor-league baseball games in Zion ... or maybe not. What are the odds that Costner, the principal owner, will be in attendance at any of the Zion-based Lake County Fielders games once the new minor-league team begins play next season?

If you listen to Costner, not too good.

But if you prefer to believe his agent, count on seeing the Hollywood A-lister on a regular basis.

Team president Rich Ehrenreich recently related Costner's initial reluctance about becoming involved with the expansion Fielders, saying that the actor noted a busy schedule and the great distance from Tinseltown to the Midwest, and didn't want to disappoint people who might expect to see him at the games.

But Costner's agent later assured Ehrenreich that the opposite scenario would more likely be true.

"You won't be able to keep him away from the place," Ehrenreich was told. "He loves this kind of thing."

* Why don't girls put the lid on?

Quick question.

Why don't girls softball players wear baseball hats?

A few will sport visors, but none wear hats.

It's puzzling, because the sun is just as bright for softball players as it is for their baseball counterparts.

Anybody?