Ed Hazelett fondly recalls the last year he and his family spent in Kankakee before returning to his native Indiana following the 2021 football season. He would often come home to see a pile of bikes in the front yard and know that his oldest son, EJ, had his friends over.

After four years as an assistant coach back home, the Hazelett family returned to Kankakee when Ed was named the school’s new football coach earlier this year. Some things are different now, like the pile of bikes becoming a driveway full of cars.

But the friends using them have remained the same, many of whom will be coached by Hazelett on the gridiron and/or playing alongside EJ on the basketball court this year. Both father and son have their sights set on helping bring some serious postseason hardware back to Kankakee.

Founder of Kankakee’s ‘darkside defense’ mantra, Ed Hazelett, returns for first head coaching job

There’s no question that former Kankakee head coach Derek Hart was the offensive mastermind behind the Kays’ offensive revolution when he took over in 2019. But defensively, it was Ed Hazelett, Hart’s longtime friend and high school teammate at Warren Central (Indiana), who was responsible for taking the defensive foundation under former head coach Omar Grant – now a Kays assistant – and turning it up a notch.

During Ed Hazelett’s three seasons as the Kankakee defensive coordinator, which culminated in a runner-up finish in the 2021 Class 5A Playoffs, the Kays allowed 13.3 points per game with eight shutouts with their brand called darkside defense. That progress continued over the past three years, where they totaled another 14 shutouts and allowed just 9.6 points per game.

For the first-time head coach, the primary source of his love for the community is also what makes the football team so defensively sound – pride.

“Everyone really believes in the Kay, and they cherish it,” Ed Hazelett said. “Wherever they go, around the state, around the Midwest, people want them to know they’re from Kankakee.”

When Hart, a former Indiana State quarterback, also returned to the Hoosier State and reunited with Hazelett at Indianapolis’ North Central in 2023, he was replaced with another offensive-oriented coach in Miles Osei, who played quarterback and wide receiver at the University of Illinois. With Osei now at Evanston, the Kays welcome another former college offensive player – Ed Hazelett played tight end and tackle at Western Kentucky – but one with more attention to the defensive side, where he still sees his initial impact.

With impact players returning, such as Cedric Terrell III (WR/QB/RB/DB), Phillip Turner (QB), Zeke Sherrod (WR/DB), Jyheir Sutton (DL) and more, a sixth straight playoff appearance, including a fourth trip to the quarterfinals in that span, is just the tip of their iceberg of goals.

“Watching film from last year, Coach Osei did a lot of great things with the offense,” Ed Hazelett said. “Defensively, that’s what I instilled. We continued to do that as I left, so we’re pretty much the same on defense, and coach Grant is doing a great job of tuning it to how he wants things run.”

EJ Hazelett adds to Kays’ strong boys basketball presence

As the football team spent the summer preparing, the boys basketball team has been fine-tuning during one of the most exciting offseasons in program history.

Lincoln Williams, last year’s Daily Journal Co-Player of the Year, started the summer as the consensus top-ranked recruit in the state. He only ascended his profile over the summer circuit, both during high school shootouts and national AAU play. He’s one of four important senior guards returning, alongside Terrell III, Myair Thompson and Kenaz Jackson Jr. And now they’re reunited with their old friend EJ Hazelett, a 6-foot-6 three-star recruit who committed to Indiana State last month.

“I’m super excited, especially playing with these guys this summer and seeing how me, Lincoln and the other guys just clicked,” EJ Hazelett said. “It wasn’t like a struggle where I had to fit in; we just gradually picked it up over the summer.”

After earning first-team All-State underclassmen, Hoosier Crossroads Conference Marion County recognition as a sophomore, EJ Hazelett recovered from a torn meniscus last summer to earn second-team all-conference, all-county and honorable mention All-State honors.

As excited as he was at the thought of seeing old friends, coming back with Dad wasn’t a no-brainer for EJ. He gave serious consideration to staying in Indiana for his senior year, but after the wake of COVID-19 pandemic seriously shortened their lone jr. high season together, this group has unfinished business.

“We’re trying to go out there and win state,” EJ Hazelett said. “That’s been the goal since I thought about coming here. I came here to win.”

EJ may have come to win, but Ed, Sara, EJ and their other children, fourth-grader Edgerrin and second-grader Ellie, also came to Kankakee to be together. Sure, they were together in Indiana, but Ed worked at North Central while EJ attended Franklin Central. Now, they’re both part of a Kankakee community they grew to love.

“It’s really like a dream come true,” Ed Hazelett said. “I couldn’t think of a better scenario I’d want to have for EJ to be going into his senior year and being at the same school, walking the same hallways.”