The sparkling credentials and reputation made former Marian Central offensive coordinator Dirk Stanger a sought-after commodity this offseason.

Stanger spoke with eight schools about different jobs – some as head coach, more as an offensive assistant.

As it turns out, Stanger will remain in the East Suburban Catholic Conference as Saint Viator’s offensive coordinator. He joins Lions head coach Brandon New’s staff and reunites with former Marian offensive line coach Steve Spoden, who was hired on New’s staff last year.

“It’s been a long process,” said Stanger, who graduated from Marian in 1993 and has been on the Hurricanes’ staff since 2003. “I was extremely blessed to have a bunch of opportunities. Talking to coach New at Saint Viator, this seemed like the best fit for me. He’s a defensive guy, he’s going to be relying on me heavily for the offense.”

Under former Marian head coach Ed Brucker and Stanger, the Hurricanes were an offensive force and a quarterback factory. After Brody Budmayr went on to play at NCAA Division III Benedictine, the Hurricanes had four D-I quarterbacks in a row: Jon Budmayr (Wisconsin), Ben Krol (Eastern Illinois), Chris Streveler (Minnesota) and Billy Bahl (Miami, Ohio).

Brucker had given Stanger a lot of responsibilties as an assistant coach, in hopes Stanger would someday be his successor. When Brucker retired after last season, Stanger applied for the head coaching job, but Marian hired former Johnsburg coach Mike Maloney.

At that point, Stanger, who never taught at Marian, resigned as a Hurricanes assistant and sought a coaching job elsewhere. He works as a head football scout for athletic recruiting with the National Collegiate Scouting Association. He also helps with his father Terry’s construction contracting business.

New formerly coached at Driscoll during its record-setting run of seven consecutive state championships, so he knew Stanger from their days in the Suburban Catholic Conference. New contacted Stanger when he learned he was looking for a coaching job.

“Dirk has an unbelievable track record of successful experience as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach,” New said. “There’s not too many coaches who have produced the quarterbacks he has. I may have added the best quarterbacks coach around.”

Stanger, who played quarterback at Wisconsin, will bring a vast knowledge of the spread offense with him to the Lions.

“What we were able to accomplish at Marian was awesome,” Stanger said. “It took a lot of hard work, but more importantly, it took a lot of great kids. We were blessed tohave as many Division I players as we had and the kids really bought into coach Brucker’s plan and the approach that he took.”

Along with four D-I quarterbacks, Marian produced six D-I linemen with Spoden as the line coach. Spoden joined Saint Viator’s staff last year.

“There’s a lot of coaches around the area who are familiar with Marian Central and the caliber of kids we produced,” Stanger said. “I felt fortunate that they thought enough of me to consider bringing me on their staff. That familiarity [with Spoden] and how he teaches offensive line factored into my decision as well.”

New was thrilled that, of all the schools where Stanger interviewed, he chose Saint Viator.

“Dirk had a great many opportunities to coach at various places,” New said. “He does everything he can for his players and team to be successful. He absolutely loves coaching the game of football. He will be a great coach and mento for our quarterbacks.”