Hometown son Drendel takes over for McKeon at Naperville North football

Strong Huskies team includes Boston College recruit Nick Lifka and Minnesota recruit Matt LaCosse.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Paul Bowker
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Aug 13, 2010, 1:19pm
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The first day of football practice Wednesday at Naperville North was not unlike any of previous years.

While the varsity offensive and defensive squads went hard at each other on the high school stadium's artificial turf, each play dissected by coaches standing at mid-field, non-varsity squads broke a hot summer's day sweat on the practice fields surrounding the stadium at this large school in Chicago's western suburbs which has an enrollment of more than 3,100.

There was one big difference, though.

For the first time in 28 years, Larry McKeon, the Huskies' longtime head coach who won 231 games and two state championships, was nowhere to be found. Instead, Sean Drendel, a 1990 Naperville North graduate and former player for McKeon, and for 15 years a coaching assistant for McKeon, stood above his players as they gathered around him on their knees in a team meeting following a morning of double workouts.

"You need to be committed to this team," he told the players. "You're all great kids. Football is a commitment."

The words probably were similar to what was said in 2009. And 2008. And 1988, when Drendel was a sophomore on a team that played not at its own stadium behind the high school, but at the town field: Memorial Stadium.

"Well, it's no different," Drendel said of running his first football practice as head coach. "There are a few more things you have to take care of, but other than that, it's still the same place, it's still the same kids. We haven't really changed a whole lot. The guy that you'd lean on a little bit for questions isn't around.”

Yes, the guy. Coach McKeon. You don't hear the name Larry, you hear Coach McKeon. Retired. Gone fishing. Rocking the grandkids. Whichever.

Yet his presence remains.

"We have the same principles, the same ideas, that Coach McKeon has always installed in the program and that's not going to change," Drendel said. "You can’t replace 30 years of coaching."

And that sense of stability seems so important at North, which won the Class 8A state championship in 2007 and knocked off 2009 Class 7A state champion Wheaton-Warrenville South on the last day of the 2008 regular season to finish unbeaten and wrestle the coveted DuPage Valley title from WW South.

"At first (before Drendel was hired), we were kind of worried that we would get a new coach, and he'd bring in new things and new traditions and the program would change," said Nick Lifka, a senior linebacker who gave a verbal commitment to Boston College above more than a dozen other scholarship offers. "As seniors, you kind of grew up looking at these traditions and hoping you could do them."

Although the Huskies are coming off a 5-5 season and a first-round playoff loss that is uncharacteristic of a Naperville North team, they are certainly a serious contender for the DuPage Valley title won by WW South in 2009, to say nothing of a Class 8A title that has been won by Maine South the last two years. Lifka and senior quarterback Matt LaCosse, a Minnesota recruit, are both headed for BCS football programs in college.

There is a taste of emptiness from a year ago.

"Yeah," says Drendel, "you get pushed back a little bit and as a coach, you look at it, 'Did I coach as hard as I could? Did I do all the right things? Did we push as hard as we could have?’

"It makes you think about it. We're three years removed from the state title and we go .500? The previous year, we were undefeated in the regular season."

Normally one of the strongest defensive teams in Chicago, North allowed an average of more than 17 points a game last year. Not bad for most teams. But at North, squads are not accustomed to giving up 38 points to WW South and 24 points to Central in a three-point loss to their crosstown rival.

Look into the eyes of Lifka and you quickly get the idea of the Huskies' determination in 2010. Are the Huskies looking for a big year?

"Yes, we are. We're looking to kick it off huge with Coach Drendel," Lifka said.

"I think there's a hunger," Drendel said. "Coaching-wise, definitely a renewed vigor. I think our players understand that we need to get better. They worked really hard in the offseason and got some things accomplished."

North is just two weeks away from its opener. The Huskies will meet Neuqua Valley on Aug. 27, just one of three true home games this season. Perhaps the biggest games come on back-to-back weeks: Sept. 24 at defending 7A state champ WW South, featuring Illinois quarterback recruit Reilly O'Toole, followed by the annual rivalry game with Naperville Central on Oct. 1 at Naperville's North Central College.

What the Huskies' opponents may notice immediately is that Drendel, the driving force for 15 years behind that North defense, is not coordinating the defense any more. Oh, he'll have his say. But as head coach, he has jumped into having a big hand in the Huskies' offense.

"In my opinion, coaching is coaching, in terms of getting the most out of kids and stuff like that," Drendel said. "In terms of actual plays and stuff, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what a good offensive play is because I've watched so many good teams."

In LaCosse, the Huskies have a strong offensive weapon, and maybe not just at quarterback. Coaches at the University of Minnesota like him because they believe LaCosse, at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, can be turned into an effective tight end in the Big Ten Conference.

"Tremendous athlete," Drendel said of LaCosse. "He keeps getting better as a quarterback and he's getting more accustomed to our offense. He's a great kid to coach. He'll give you everything he's got. He's respectful, and he comes from a great family."

Yes, family. It is a word used often in Naperville. It is perhaps why Drendel, who works not as a teacher in the school district but as a financial "day trader," is coaching at the school where he learned to play football. He remembers being mentored by McKeon and others during his teen years. Now he wants to do the same.

"When I came back to Naperville, I wanted to be able to give back to the community, give back to the program that helped me a lot, taught me some things about life," Drendel said. "Coach McKeon and his assistant coaches that I played for were great mentors. That's all I'm looking for, try to help the kids become better people."

Even before Drendel was named head coach, Lifka said, Drendel was helping the Huskies in their offseason conditioning program. It is the kind of town where you'll see players head over to the coach's house to talk football or just about life.

"He’s kind of like a second father to me," Lifka said. "I'll go over and talk to him at his house about the team and just things in general. He's a great coach and I love him."

Drendel loves them right back.

"More than anything, I think we have great student-athletes. I stress that idea because we have a lot of kids that are honor roll, high honor roll-type kids," Drendel said. "They have some toughness, they have mental toughness. But they're also very caring. They care about what it says on their jersey, rather than what it says on the back of their jersey, meaning their own name.

"I really like this program from the morals and all those things that have been built here."

Paul Bowker, a sports journalist for 25 years who has worked at newspapers nationwide, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com .

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