Lake Forest football coach Chuck Spagnoli didn’t enter the profession to pursue individual accolades.
Spagnoli has always loved football, and coaching presented an opportunity to remain close to the sport and extend the lessons he learned during his playing days. After more than four decades, he remains as dedicated to his student-athletes as ever.
But the spotlight has found Spagnoli, who will be inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.
“Something like this is very humbling,” he said. “I’m very lucky. The biggest part of it is that I’ve been fortunate to be around good people for so long who were able to make me look good — and another big part of it is that I’m old.”
Spagnoli, who will be honored at the IHSFCA’s annual Hall of Fame banquet in Champaign on March 28, isn’t wrong. He has coached for a long time and in a wide variety of roles in both high school and college.
Spagnoli first coached in 1984 after he graduated from Illinois State, where he played the last two years of his college career. His first stop came at his alma mater, Niles West, where his former line coach, Bill Richardson, had become the head coach. After four years there, Spagnoli received his first job as a head coach at De La Salle, where he stayed for three seasons.
Spagnoli then coached in college for 12 years. He was the defensive coordinator at Evansville for eight seasons and the offensive coordinator at Carthage for four seasons.
“I think the only real position group that I’ve never coached is wide receiver,” he said. “There are people around you who help forge your philosophy, and you take lessons from some, and some you see maybe how you don’t want to do things.”
One former student-athlete who is uniquely qualified to assess Spagnoli’s coaching style is Rocky Lane, who played for Spagnoli as a quarterback at De La Salle and as a running back at Evansville.
“He’s very prepared, and he knows the game inside and out,” Lane said. “But what stuck with me is how he can motivate a team and his players to do more than is expected. He has a way of getting the most out of his players.”
That’s a hallmark of many of Spagnoli’s teams at Lake Forest, where he has been at the helm since 2003, compiling a 139-101 record, including playoff appearances in 16 of 23 seasons. The 2012 team advanced to the Class 6A state semifinals, while six other teams, most recently in 2024, reached the quarterfinals.
One of Spagnoli’s few teams that didn’t make the playoffs, and the only one not to do so during a 15-year stretch of full seasons, entered 2009 with exceedingly high expectations. A big reason for those hopes was the presence of Notre Dame-bound quarterback Tommy Rees.
But the Scouts stumbled in a season-opening loss to Palatine. Rees threw three interceptions in that game, and after one of them, he threw his helmet to the ground in disgust as he approached the sideline.
Rees, whom the Atlanta Falcons have hired to be offensive coordinator, remembers being summoned to Spagnoli’s office after the team’s bus arrived back at school that day. Spagnoli made abundantly clear, in colorful and direct fashion, that another such behavioral display would result in an irreversible ticket to the bench, regardless of Rees’ pedigree.
“That was the best thing he could have said to me at that moment,” Rees said. “I still think about that because it showed such great perspective on his part. He said that how you handle yourself will resonate with others and that I needed to lead from the front. I’ve now communicated that same message countless times as a coach myself.”
Missing from that exchange was any mention of on-field performance, and that was intentional. It had more to do with the culture that Spagnoli sought to build at Lake Forest. He wanted teams to play hard-nosed, gritty football in an environment where everyone feels like they’re part of an extended family.
Former Lake Forest linebacker Mac Uihlein, a 2026 NFL draft prospect after five seasons at Northwestern, fondly recalls another simple but unforgettable tradition. The team would gather before practice, and Spagnoli would ask the birthday boy whether he had anything to say. The player would respond that it was his birthday, resulting in a rapturous ovation and a special invitation from Spagnoli.
“He would say, ‘Go get yourself a Gatorade milkshake,’” Uihlein said. “A lot of times the bottles were expired, but it was a great gesture, and we had so much fun with it.
“We had a lot of great wins and playoff games, but a lot of what you remember are the guys and the experiences that coach helped facilitate.”
Another example is the annual preseason trip to Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It includes several practices, a session-ending scrimmage and a Sunday barbecue that families attend before they bring their kids home.
“Even after my experience in college, one of my biggest takeaways from high school was how close our locker room was,” Uihlein said. “The main reason was that coach did such a good job building an environment where 60, 70 or 80 guys banded together to become best friends.”
That didn’t happen by accident, and it undoubtedly made a difference on the field. But Spagnoli can’t help but credit everyone else for the success that has led him to the IHSFCA Hall of Fame.
“I did not earn this,” he said. “We have such great support from families in our community. I have gotten so much more out of this job than I’ve given.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
