Ron Szudarski knew that at some point he wanted to be the head coach of his own football program.

And while the journey might have been a little bit longer and the road winded possibly a little bit farther than he originally anticipated, he’s going to get that chance as he was recently approved to be the next head coach of the Plainfield South football program.

Szudarski replaces Jake Brosman at the helm of the program. Brosman led the Cougars for three seasons, compiling a 13-15 record with one playoff appearance in 2024.

Szudarski’s journey to the head coaching position took something of a winding path. The veteran coach began his football experience at Berwyn-Cicero Morton, when the district was split into two schools, Morton East and Morton West. Szudarski played at Morton West in the final year prior to the merger of the two schools into one.

After his high school career, Szudarski played at Moraine Valley before returning to getting a job at the now consolidated Berwyn-Cicero Morton working for the buildings and grounds crew at the school, eventually becoming the supervisor of that crew as well as working as an assistant coach for the football program at Morton.

In 2011, Szudarski switched locations for his coaching career, moving to Plainfield South while retaining his day job at Morton, serving in a few different roles at Plainfield South before settling as the school’s defensive coordinator for 13 years.

Szudarski admitted to always aspiring to running his own program, but the stars didn’t align quite right at any time for that to happen until now.

Part of the reason for that was a concern of trying to be the head coach of a program he wasn’t working in, but that problem will be rectified as Szudarski will be retiring from his post at Morton at the end of March, giving him the freedom to apply his full-time attention to his coaching post.

“It was always a goal to be a head coach at some point in my career. Being a non-teacher sometimes worked against me a little bit,” Szudarski said. “I had an opportunity to take the job at Morton at one point. but at that point I was looking to move on. The commute was too much. ...

“The timing couldn’t have been more right for this opportunity, though.”

Plainfeld South has made the playoffs in four of the last eight seasons but hasn’t won a playoff game since 2011. While Szudarski admits he’s hoping to change that trend sooner rather than later, his first steps in program-building are a little bit more overarching.

“I think I bring more than just a football coach. I think I bring somebody who is a great role model and mentor for these young players,” Szudarski said. “That’s something I take pride in.

He’s also enlisted the help of some former Plainfield South players to help him build a foundation.

“I currently have four of my former players back coaching with me, and that’s really the most exciting thing about this for me,” Szudarski said. “When you get former players that want to come back and coach with you, you know you’ve done something right.”

Szudarski’s time as an assistant gives him a lot of insight into exactly what he has to work with heading into the 2026 season, and he likes what he sees.

“I think we have a great foundation,” Szudarski said. “And from what I know, we’ve got some talent coming in, so I think we are in a good spot at all levels.”