Newman hires alum Mike LeMay as new football coach

Even though Mike LeMay has been in his hometown for the past decade, the 2006 Newman grad will still be having a bit of a homecoming next fall.

The former Comet will return to his alma mater as the new football coach, replacing Brandon Kreczmer, who left in January to become an assistant coach at Western Illinois University.

LeMay was a Newman assistant coach for one year in 2011, then went a couple miles down the road and served as an assistant at Sterling for the last 10 years, spending the last several of those as Jon Schlemmer’s defensive coordinator. The Golden Warriors went 82-24 during LeMay’s time there, and made the playoffs eight times.

But when the Newman job came open, LeMay heard from several fellow former Comets who thought he should make the move back to where he started.

“I was contacted by different alums that have been back in Sterling, approached by lots of people about it, just discussing things with that,” LeMay said. “I knew the job was open, but it never really crossed my mind, because everything has been so good at Sterling.

“But the administration from Newman reached out and said it would be great to see my application come across their desks, because they’d heard nothing but good things about me, and I figured I’d try to give it a shot and have a conversation about it to see if it would work out. Everything kind of came together after that.”

LeMay is also a social studies teacher at Sterling, and he’ll finish out this school year in that post before taking over the same position at Newman starting next fall.

LeMay played football and ran track, and also played basketball for a couple of years and wrestled for a couple of others while at Newman. He was a junior on the 2004 Comet squad that won the Class 2A state championship. He also played four years of football at St. Ambrose University, where he was a standout linebacker and defensive end for the Fighting Bees.

He’s followed his alma mater through the years, though not as closely as one would think with him being right in town. But with his focus on the Golden Warriors, he isn’t quite as in-tune with the current Comets as one would expect.

“I’ve always kind of lived by the saying ‘Worry about where your butt’s at now,’ and that’s exactly what I did at Sterling,” LeMay said. “I was focused on those kids and that coaching staff, and you get so wrapped up that it’s tough to follow along during the season.

“But I’ve talked with some of the coaches that I had there as a player, whether it be Coach [Andy] Accardi, Coach [Tim] Nelson, Paul Magnafici, even Brandon a few times. Obviously I wanted Newman to continue to be a strong, successful program, and it’s easy to follow that way when they’re having that playoff success.”

LeMay’s first coaching job out of college was at Alleman High School in Rock Island, where he was a member of the coaching staff on the 2010 Pioneers team that finished second in Class 4A.

LeMay’s success on the field and on the sideline as an assistant, as well as his ties to Newman, made him the ideal choice for the job, said Newman athletic director Justin Stevenson.

“Mike knows what Newman football means to our school and community, and his leadership is exactly what is needed to move the football program forward,” Stevenson said in a press release. “The Newman family is beyond excited to bring an alum back to lead our football program. It’s great to bring Mike back home to his Newman family.”

In three seasons as head coach, Kreczmer led the Comets to a 23-6 record and the playoffs twice (there was no postseason in 2020-21), guiding Newman to the Class 2A state title in his first season in 2019.

Before that, hall of famer Mike Papoccia led Newman for 38 seasons, amassing a 340-99 record and five state championships. The Comets made the playoffs 29 times under Papoccia, adding a pair of state runner-up finishes to those five titles.

Newman has made the playoffs the last 20 seasons in which they were held, and in 27 of the last 28. LeMay knows the track record, and is excited to come back and be a part of it again.

“To me, Newman is the epitome of the tradition for a football program, in a lot of aspects,” LeMay said. “It’s a very rich history, and being a player there and coaching there for one year, it’s a part of everything you do.

“Now, coming back around here, I want to carry on that tradition. It’s important to me, it’s important to the coaches, it’s important to the players. It’s reiterated quite a bit through the years, and it’s a big part of what the school and the program is. I’m excited for the chance to keep that going.”