Some new faces will be coming to the courts and fields of Grayslake Central in 2019. For the fourth year in a row, girls soccer will have a new head coach, while football and girls volleyball will have a new head coach for the first time in 5 and 10 years.

Girls soccer will have a familiar face on the sidelines with head coach Jamie Martin after a two year hiatus. Jamie Martin took over briefly in 2016 for Bethany Martin. Last year the Rams were coached by Daniel DePaz, who led them to a 9-8-1 record. The girls soccer program hasn’t produced a ten win season since 2015 when they went 13-7 under Bethany Russ.

“We have some seniors who are going to be on varsity for their fourth year this year, and they will never have had the same varsity head and assistant coach for all four years.” said girls interim assistant coach Tom Hamilton.

The boys soccer program has also struggled to keep a consistent coaching staff, but the 2019 season will be the first year that all members of the coaching staff will return. Hamilton is also the boys head coach and will be coaching his fifth season in 2019.

Girls volleyball head coach Jason Janczak decided to step down from the job following the seasons end after a successful 23-14 season. Janczak took over the JV coaching job in 2003, and varsity in 2004, finishing a tenure of fifteen years as varsity’s head coach.

Football will have a change at head coach for the first time in five years. Jason Schaal stepped in as head coach in 2014, after spending a year as an assistant under Ben Ault. Schaal finished with a 6-40 record in his tenure at Central.

Grayslake Central football hasn’t had a winning season since 2011 when they lost in the opening round of the IHSA playoffs. That was the last time the Rams made the playoffs. The Rams went 7-3 that year. It marked one of two winning seasons within the last ten years.

Girls soccer and dance have struggled to retain coaches over the years, but other programs have been remarkably consistent with their coaching staff according to athletic director Brian Moe.

“Coaches’ life circumstances change. That is true not only for coaches, but for teachers and professionals in any business. Unexpected changes occur and sometimes the time commitment is more than a coach can handle at that point in their life,” said Moe.

Moe also mentioned that some coaches stepped down to be closer to family.

“They have young kids at home who are starting to play their own sports, and the coaches were missing games.”

Head coaching changes can have major effects on players.

“A coach comes in with their vision, their philosophy, their means of motivating people, the way they explain things, the way they run their practices, provide feedback, and every time a player gets a new coach, they have to adapt to that, you know, There’s the stress level involved to be able to prove yourself all over again, you know, the coach may have different preferences and it’s tough for the kids to adapt to it.” said Hamilton.

“New coaches take some time getting to know each player and their strengths-weaknesses and personality. Forming the player/coach relationship is more important than many people realize.” said Moe.  

“The program overall, I feel doesn’t grow. I don’t know, if we had a consistent coach, I think it would be a stronger program.” said three-year varsity soccer player Grace Herrmann about the effects of not having a consistent coach. 

 Coaching changes bring some advantages too.

“New perspectives are always nice, you know. Sometimes programs can get kind of stagnant, not necessarily from my experience, or from what I’ve seen but it’s, you know, new perspective could potentially teach kids extra. So, yes, they have to adapt but at the same time if they can remember what the old coach taught them, and then learn something new from the new coach, you know, more perspectives could make them more well rounded.” said Hamilton.