Mark Morgan watched his depleted Guerin football team lose 47-0 at home to Aurora Central Catholic on Saturday, Sept. 24. For Morgan, a first-year coach at Guerin, it was the team’s fifth loss in five games and the third straight week in which the Crusaders had been shut out.
Soon after the conclusion of the Metro Suburban Red Conference game, Guerin athletic director Bob Carlson informed Morgan that he had been relieved of his football coaching duties effective immediately, Morgan said.
Tony Pecoraro, the head football coach at Guerin from 2009-2013, was named the interim coach ahead of Guerin’s next game against Elmwood Park on Friday, Sept. 30. The Crusaders lost 47-0 to the Tigers, falling to 0-6.
“We were not happy with the direction of the program,” Guerin president Steve Baldwin said. “We felt to make the move midseason was the right decision. We did not want the rest of the season to be unproductive.”
Baldwin said the administration would re-evaluate the coaching position at the end of the season.
Carlson arrived at Guerin over the summer, having previously served as athletic director at Regina Dominican in Wilmette. Morgan was named as football coach during the athletic department overhaul, replacing former Chicago Bears wide receiver Glen Kozlowski, who had a 7-11 record over two seasons.
“To me, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I disagreed with the timing of the decision,” Morgan said. “I respect the kids in the school and Bob. I love the kids and assistants, and Bob was very supportive. … I wanted to finish the season at the minimum.”
Carlson, also a former athletic director at now-closed Driscoll Catholic in Addison, had ties with Morgan, who was an assistant football coach at Driscoll from 1998-2003. Before coming to Guerin, Morgan previously was the head football coach at Chicago Golder.
Since the program’s 2004 transition from Holy Cross to Guerin, the Crusaders have not won more than four games in a season.
Guerin has been hampered this season by low roster numbers. Morgan said the program is varsity-only, with at most 17 players in the program. Many players have been two-way starters. Morgan said senior fullback and linebacker Julio Roldan, a captain, is among those who hardly ever come off the field.
“We were struggling to field a team,” Morgan said, “but those kids were so phenomenal doing everything the coaches asked of them.”
Among the team’s biggest challenges, Morgan said, was the loss of starting center and linebacker Vincent Lagioia, who was hospitalized after a car accident with a broken arm and internal bleeding.
“We didn’t find out Vinny being in a car accident until about 30 minutes before the game (against Fenton on Sept. 10), and we realized we didn’t have a backup center,” Morgan said. “I had to find someone to snap the ball to our quarterback. We had center tryouts in our meeting room.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @bobnarang
