On Campus: Cary-Grove alum Vince Fillipp takes reins of St. Ambrose football program

Weekends as a high school senior for Vince Fillipp were filled with plenty of football recruiting trips.

“I remember being a student-athlete,” said the Cary-Grove graduate. “My mom and I, every weekend, were going to different colleges.”

When he arrived at St. Ambrose University, a couple of miles north of downtown Davenport, Iowa, and the Mississippi River, he found a good fit and a good feeling.

“Getting here just felt like home,” he said. “I left here thinking, ‘Holy smokes, this is it. This is the place I need to be.’”

Nearly 17 years after putting on a uniform for NAIA St. Ambrose as a defensive lineman, Fillipp has become the program’s head coach. He was elevated from defensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator Jan. 10 after spending the past five seasons in that role.

As a player and coach, Fillipp has spent 13 years in the Bees’ program.

“I’ve got deep roots here and a lot of love for St. Ambrose,” said Fillipp, who was introduced during an on-campus press conference. “It was pretty surreal seeing my name in the paper and all the articles written (in the Quad Cities). That really hit home. Plus, all the outreach from friends and family and peers around me. It’s been a really cool experience.”

Now Fillipp has traded a suit and tie and speaking from a lectern for team gear and meeting rooms.

“It’s really fun and exciting, but now we’re back to business as usual,” he said.

Fillipp, who also served as the team’s associate head coach in 2021, said his first task is adding an offensive coordinator to replace former head coach Mike Magistrelli, who handled that side of the ball during his 15 years on the job.

And, it’s continuing to grow the program’s roster.

“The biggest thing is recruiting,” he said. “That’s obviously the lifeblood of any good college football program.”

Fillipp’s unique path as a player and coach provide plenty of opportunities to sell the university, which has approximately 3,000 students, and the community to future players.

“The best thing I tell those guys is that you’re going to meet so many great people here and you’re going to build relationships that are going to help you in the future,” he said. “That’s really the advantage of a small school.”

Despite being a small part of the Quad Cities, the area boasts a large amount of social and professional opportunities.

“A lot of small schools are in small towns,” Fillipp said. “That’s not the case here. There’s malls and movie theaters and bowling alleys. We’ve got a (minor-league) baseball team right downtown. There’s concerts. There’s things to do to be a college kid.”

As a sports management major, Fillipp did an internship with the Moline-based Quad City Steamwheelers indoor football team across the border in Illinois.

“I was able to work (an internship) 10 minutes away from the dorm rooms,” he said. “Engineering is growing here more and more. We’ve got John Deere (headquarters) right across the river (in Moline). From an academic standpoint, there are hundreds and hundreds of opportunities within 10-15 minutes.”

Though he has gained his professional experience in coaching at schools in Iowa and Kansas, Fillipp said some of his biggest lessons he’s learned came as a Cary-Grove football player.

“It shaped the person I am,” he said. “You don’t really know how good you had it while you were going through it. We were learning about being held accountable to your teammates, being part of a team and what that means, the selflessness of ‘I’m not doing this for me. There’s other guys working just as hard as me right next to me.’

“Looking back on it, the amount of great leadership and accountability that was instilled in us every single day, I was so lucky to have that when I was 16, 17, 18 years old.”

Splitt picks Butler: On Jan. 13, Butler University’s women’s volleyball program announced the addition of Cary-Grove grad Jenna Splitt to its roster for the spring semester as a transfer.

Splitt, a setter, played one season at the University of Iowa. During the fall, she played in 20 matches and started three times for the Hawkeyes, averaging 3.3 assists per set. The 5-foot-10 Splitt ranked second for Iowa in assists and sixth in digs.

On Nov. 4, Iowa announced the termination of head coach Vicki Brown amid a season in which the Hawkeyes finished 6-24.

During the 2021 season, Butler finished 16-16 overall and 10-8 in the Big East Conference.

Indy shooting stars: Sophomore guard Marissa Knobloch (Marengo) and senior guard Liz Alsot (McHenry West) scored season-highs of 26 and 18 points, respectively, for the University of Indianapolis women’s basketball team Jan. 15 in an 89-78 loss to Southern Indiana.

The local duo was in the starting lineup last weekend for the D-II Greyhounds (5-10).

Knobloch is averaging 9.6 points and has started in nine of her 14 appearances this season. She has a team-high 35 3-pointers this season and is shooting 39% from long distance.

Alsot has started the past two games and appeared in 14 contests, averaging 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds.

Big game at BU: Aannah Interrante, a senior guard for Bradley University’s women’s basketball team, was named the school’s player of the game Jan. 13 after posting season-highs of eight points, three rebounds and 28 minutes in a 48-41 loss to Loyola Chicago.

Interrante, who played prep basketball for both Johnsburg and McHenry high schools, has played in seven games this season for Bradley (3-11).

• Barry Bottino writes about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.