Tony Bartolomeo doesn’t mind discomfort.
“I think you can create something good being out of your comfort zone,” he said. “I like being out of my comfort zone.”
Bartolomeo will get the chance to create a new era of football at Lake Central after he was announced as head coach of the Indians, pending approval of the school board.
He replaces Brett St. Germain, who resigned last month after going 44-27 over seven seasons. Lake Central finished 4-6 this year and 5-5 in 2015.
Bartolomeo, the Indians’ offensive coordinator, was the interim coach this season when St. Germain missed three games for health and personal reasons.
Bartolomeo, who lives in St. John, has one immediate priority. He wants to increase the number of kids participating in football.
Lake Central, which has 3,196 students, is the sixth largest high school in the state. Still, the Indians have had a difficult time making football a priority for its student-athletes.
“One of my goals is to build the numbers in the program, starting from the middle schools and up,” he said. “I think if we can get more kids playing football, we can solve some of the problems.”
One of the other challenges at Lake Central is dealing with outsized expectations.
Bartolomeo, who was the athletic director for two years at LC, was unfazed about trying to live up those expectations.
“I’m pretty familiar with the landscape,” he said. “I live here. Any time you have a large number of kids, it comes at a price. The price is high expectations. Every program here goes through it. Nobody is crying for us. Everybody wants to take us down because we are the biggest.”
Bartolomeo graduated from Merrillville in 1994. He played for Rick Wimmer, now the head coach at Fishers.
Bartolomeo worked as an offensive coordinator for Merrillville and Munster before moving into administration. He was an assistant principal in the Chesterton school system, then transferred to Lake Central, where he served as the AD from 2012-2015.
Bartolomeo decided he wanted to return to coaching after helping LC usher in its new athletic complex, including a new field.
Bartolomeo, who will double as the offensive coordinator, said he thinks he can draw from his different experiences to help improve the program.
Twitter @MikeHutttonPT
