Football: Brandon New is St Viator’s new man

Updated: January 11, 2012 9:56PM

Brandon New’s last stint as a head coach didn’t end the way he’d hoped.

But New has a fresh start and is just looking ahead after being named St. Viator’s head coach on Wednesday.

“It’s a new opportunity,” said New, who was an assistant at Benet the past two seasons.

He took the year before that off after serving as the last head coach at Driscoll before the school closed in the spring of 2009.

“When all that happened. I was emotionally spent,” said New, who led the Highlanders to a state quarterfinal berth in his only season at the helm. “I graduated from there. I had a lot of ties to the school.

“As an adult, you know you’re going to get through it. I felt bad for the kids; kids were coming up and crying (after hearing the news).”

After sitting out the 2009 season, New was ready to get back in the game.

“I said, ‘I can’t spend another year away from coaching.’”

So he joined the Benet staff and gained some knowledge of the East Suburban Catholic Conference that will be useful in his new gig. One of the things he learned is that St. Viator has a talented quarterback returning in junior Mickey Macias.

“That young man impressed me this year,” New said. “He was a nice player, great size.”

New also likes the fact he’s taking over a program that had some success under former coach Chris Kirkpatrick, who resigned after 10 seasons to become athletic director at Bishop McNamara.

“It’s not a program where you have to go in and clean house,” New said.

The Lions were 2-7 last season and went 48-48 under Kirkpatrick, making four trips to the IHSA playoffs.

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