Frank Lenti has never been one to back down from a challenge.
The head football coach at Chicago's Mount Carmel High School recalled the buzz when he took over the program for the 1984 season, after serving two years on the staff of former coach Bill Barz.
"When I first took over for Bill Barz, people told me I was nuts because Bill had won a state championship, he retired as the winningest football coach in Mount Carmel history," Lenti said. "People said, ‘How are you ever going to overcome that?'
"I said we'll try to find a way not only to maintain the program, but we're going to find a way to enhance it and make it better."
Nine state championships - an Illinois state record, 276 career victories and 46 losses later, Lenti said he is ready to bring the same attitude toward the USA Football Junior National Team. Team USA coach Chuck Kyle has announced Lenti's appointment to the 10-man staff as offensive line coach for the Junior World Championships, set for June 27-July 5, 2009 in Canton, Ohio.
"What an awesome opportunity," the 57-year-old Lenti said. "You're kind of humbled. It's awe-striking. You think of all the high school football coaches across the country and you're one of the first 10 chosen to represent your country.
"And to me, you're not only representing your country, you're representing the state of Illinois, and most of all you're representing the Mount Carmel community and all the people who help make it as successful as it is today, from the coaching staff, to the players, the parents and administration on down."
Lenti likes the idea of being an ambassador of the sport by spreading its popularity internationally.
"Anything that's going to give kids a greater opportunity and give the sport an opportunity to expand, I think, is awesome," he said. "Let's face it, the more people who know about American football and who want to play it around the world, that just increases the overall popularity of the sport."
In particular, Lenti likes the idea of coaching games in Fawcett Stadium.
"You're going to Canton, Ohio, home of college football, high school football, NFL football," he said. "The state of Ohio is where a guy like Paul Brown got his roots, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian. It's a perfect setting for our country to host the first tournament like this."
It was in Ohio where Lenti said seeds were sewn for this appointment. His 1990 team traveled there to beat Cincinnati Moeller en route to a 14-0 season.
"Chuck [Kyle] knew me from that trip when we beat Moeller and from coaching at Bo Schembechler's clinics," Lenti said.
Lenti has made a name for himself by winning state titles in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. He has headed up a program that produced Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Steve Edwards, former Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice, former New York Giants wide receiver Chris Calloway and former Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Matt Cushing.
Lenti's teams have had 25 All-State selections and two All-Americans. His own son, Frank Jr., is a senior wide receiver at the University of Illinois, one of numerous Mount Carmel players to go on to collegiate careers.
Lenti himself played football at Chicago's Loyola University, and he went on to serve as a graduate assistant under Lou Holtz at the University of Arkansas before coaching at Chicago's St. Francis De Sales and Thornton High Schools before returning in 1982 to his alma mater, Mount Carmel, as an assistant.
Lenti's initiation to football didn't quite go as successfully as his coaching career.
"I actually went out for football my freshman year at Mount Carmel, and they told me to go home," Lenti said. "I was too small."
So he never played prep football.
"I ended up being the captain of the baseball team here," he said.
Lenti's off-seasons are usually filled with football-related activities, from clinics to speaking engagements. He was the only high school coach to serve on the Gatorade Sports Scholastic Coach Magazine board and was a member of the McGregor Clinic Advisory Board.
So Lenti won't mind coaching at a time of year when many coaches get a little down time.
"I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said. "If it was something you had to do every June or July, I think a lot of people would balk at it.
"It's like going on a very special working vacation. You need to take advantage of it. From my end, it will be a lot of work, a lot of coaching, a lot of preparation. But what's coaching? It's teaching. It's just a different classroom, outside the building."
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
