Waca moves up at Kewanee

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KEWANEE — All Chris Waca ever wanted was to become a head football coach. Kewanee High School has given him that chance.

The Princeton native was named as the Boilermakers’ new man in charge at Tuesday night’s special board meeting. He had served as defensive coordinator last fall under Josh Cavanaugh, who resigned last month after just one year.

“I’m honored, humbled and privilege to become a head football coach,” Waca said. “This has been a lifelong dream. Kind of took some detours to get there, but we are finally here.

“I’m ready for the next step and for the challenge of turning this program around and being a part of something that can be very special over here.”

Waca, 35, thanked the Kewanee School Board and administration for “giving me this opportunity.”

Kewanee athletic director Greg Christakos said Waca was chosen from five finalists for the position, two of which declined interviews.

The Boilermakers post is Waca’s first head job, but he comes with 11 years of experience coaching football. He was on staff at Downer’s Grove North from 1998-2005, where the Trojans won the 8A state title in 2004.

The former Princeton Tiger gridder (class of ‘91) returned home to become an assistant at PHS from 2006-07. He made the move across NCIC lines last year to Kewanee.

Waca planned to meet with his players Wednesday to “talk expectations for the rest of school year, summer and get us ready to go. We’re a little bit behind everybody. I’m going to tell the boys our season starts right now,” he said.

Then he must assemble his coaching staff as all assistants, including himself, had been let go of their positions along with Cavanaugh. He said he’s not aware who all have reapplied, but he knows of one, who will be coaching with him, his dad, Charlie.

The elder Waca, a Logan Junior teacher, was a longtime assistant at PHS and followed his son to Kewanee a year ago.

“I know he’s going to be a part of it,” Chris Waca said. “He’s been a huge part of my life and my football life. He’s definitely been a major contributor to our program.”

The Boilers open the season against Sherrard and will host Princeton for its homecoming on Sept. 25, which will also mark the end of the Route 34 rivals long-standing rivalry with Kewanee’s exit for the Three Rivers Conference in 2010.

He will be taking over a program that comes off an 0-9 season in 2008, but one that had strong success at the underclass level — 5-4 sophomores and 7-1-1 freshmen.

He said that success at the lower levels is great, “but the wins and losses are not necessarily measured until you get to varsity years. We’ll take that success and hopefully build on to it this year and for future years to come.”

The football coach teaches math at KHS and is anticipating receiving his masters degree from Benedictine University in May. He and wife, Tammy, live in Princeton and have one daughter, Aubree, 22 months.

Waca said the motto he will instill in his players is “HEART,” which stands for hard work, enthusiasm, attitude, respect and team. HEART was shaped in part, he said, from playing basketball for Roger Lowe at Princeton, who was a “big influence in my life.”

• Crosstown Wethersfield filled its head coaching position for its football co-op with Annawan, naming Cambridge native Brandon Johnston at last week’s board meeting. It will also be Johnston’s first head coaching job.

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