YHS Football: You Can't Keep A Good Man Away

It was 30 years ago that Karl Hoinkes began his tremendous journey as a high school football head coach in Oswego. Now, he’s taken over .

The kids he’s now coaching weren’t even a twinkle in their father’s eyes when the then 30-year-old Hoinkes was just getting started in 1981. Heck, most of the parents of these players weren’t even married yet, and many hadn’t even met their soulmate for the first time.

That doesn’t matter though: Hoinkes is back doing what he loves.

“I think it’s great because he brings so much passion and integrity to Yorkville,” Yorkville athletic director Seth Schoonover said. “We’re very fortunate to have him. He has so much integrity and character that he wears on his sleeve and is a joy to be around.”

Hoinkes also brings some impressive statistics. His teams at Oswego compiled a 190-87 record during his 26 seasons. The Panthers also won two state titles, were semi-finalists on four occasions and were crowned conference champions eight times.

One of the most noteworthy numbers Hoinkes accomplished at Oswego is 19. That was the number of  times the Panthers made the playoffs in his 26 years. That’s 73 percent of the time.

Now he's taking over a program that hasn’t played in the post-season in nine long years. The Foxes haven’t won more than three games in a season since 2002.

In 2006, when Hoinkes was asked how he was going to spend his retirement, he said: “I’ll be doing something. You’ll be reading about me somewhere. You never know what I’m going to do.”

Playing golf wasn’t the answer.

“My golf game didn’t get better, but it wasn’t like I was bored or anything,” he said.

Hoinkes moved on to Benedictine University where he spent four years as an assistant coach.

“I learned some different football and it’s always good to learn something different and new," he said. "But by about the third year or so I was getting a little anxious and was looking, but nothing was close to home and I wasn’t going to travel.”

Soon, Hoinkes found out that Santa Claus isn’t just for kids. Santa arrived and put the proverbial red bike, all together and with a bow on the seat, under the tree for Hoinkes.

“Timing is everything in life and when I heard about the opening around Christmas I told my wife that I was going to try for it so I gave Seth a call,” he said. “When the time comes you have to be ready, and I was ready to do it. I missed it. I really missed the excitement of coaching high school football, especially after doing it for so long.”

He also realized the kids could use him, as could the assistant coaches.

“I knew I wanted to come back because I knew I had more to give,” he said. “I wanted to coach coaches again and coach kids again, and now we’re trying to get a program started.”

And so the Hoinkes era begins.

The Foxes graduated 35 seniors, so there are plenty of new faces on the roster this fall. Many of the coaches from last year’s team remain, while there are some new coaches, including Joey Goodspeed, a four-year starter for Hoinkes at Oswego (1995) who played at Notre Dame and briefly in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams.

“All our coaches are really in love with coaching football and for me it’s family and then my job,” Hoinkes said. “My job has always been football for as long as I have been an adult. I just love it so much that I don’t think I’ll ever retire from it.”

Hoinkes even joked that he might be the next Joe Paterno (the 84-year-old Penn State coach).

“I just see myself always working with kids and working in practice and love to see them get better,” he said. “I love seeing the small successes lead to be big successes.”

He’s also a realist. While many judge a team’s success by wins and losses, nearly all of these kids won’t play an officiated football game by the time they turn 19. Instead of learning the Xs and Os, they’ll be trying to figure out what to study in college, how to find a full-time job and how to pay their bills.

Times were tough with cutbacks at Oswego when Hoinkes started in 1981. They’re also tough today in a blue collar town like Yorkville.

“You learn a lot about life when your 15, 16 and 17,” he said. “With football you learn to be a part of a group so you can get better.  I have yet to find a statistic on this, but I know that it’s true: Kids who are out for athletics probably have better grades that those who aren’t because they set goals on and off the field, and that carries on in life for most of them.”

It also helps when one of your goals is to continue doing one of the things you love most.

Welcome back, Commander.