Red Raider Nation Welcomes New Varsity Football Coach at Rally

A new tradition, the Huntley High School Red Raider Sports Kick Off, will herald the 2012 football season as well as introduce a new varsity coach.

The kick off rally starts at 6 p.m. at the high school's stadium, located at 13719 Harmony Road. It will feature red and black football scrimmage. The cost is one personal product, like shampoo or toothpaste, to donated to the Grafton Township Food Pantry.

A new school year always brings many changes, and at Huntley High School one of those changes includes a new football coach.

John Hart was hired to teach weightlifting and freshman physical education, but he will be tackling the job of varsity coach as well.

Hart has one main goal for the varsity team this year.

“We want to compete right now with anyone who steps on the field with us,” he said in an email.

Hart played football in high school and at college at Eastern Illinois University. After college, he became head coach at the age of 22 at Edwards County High School in Illinois.

After spending five years at Edwards County, he became a coach at Mt. Carmel High School in Southern Illinois, and remained there for 11 years.

He then spent seven years at Evansville Reitz High School and four years at Warren Central School before making the switch to district 158.

Hart has an impressive winning record behind him at 270 wins, 70 losses. He also has two state championship titles under his belt, one in 2007 and one in 2009.

Now that Hart is officially head coach, he hopes to teach his players a few lessons about football, but other things as well.

“I hope to help our players develop athletically, to compete at their highest ability, be responsible members of the community, have pride in their school and to be a good person,” he said in an email.

Hart said he will bring a lot of changes to the team this year, but one important thing is that he wants to make sure that his team loves the games and loves their teammates, he said.