FOOTBALL: Stoney Creek goes old-school to land Lantzy as football coach
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
@LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester Stoney Creek went old-school to try to bring football wins to its program.
The Cougars’ administration lured former Utica Eisenhower coach Bob Lantzy out of retirement of the high school ranks to begin coaching the Cougars in 2016.
Lantzy replaces Brad Zube, who left for Ortonville Brandon last month. The Hall-of-Fame Lantzy, who coached at Eisenhower for 41 seasons, gained more than 300 wins and reached the state finals four times as a head coach, addressed his new players from a Skype video at his Arizona winter home Wednesday afternoon. He will be in town in March to meet and greet the players in person.
Lantzy retired from Eisenhower following the 2011 season, finishing with a 304-115-1 record. He coached at Romeo Powell Middle School last fall and led his team to a perfect 9-0 record.
Stoney Creek finished 3-6 in 2015 with a young roster. A majority of that roster will be back in uniform this fall.
Rick Jakacki, who became Stoney Creek’s athletics director last August, said that Lantzy’s name came up at the last minute.
“During the last few days of the posting, his name came up. I gave him a call and we began discussions,” said Jakacki. “It worked out. This is the right man to lead our football program. We’re happy to have him.”
Lantzy, who is now 70, talked for nearly 30 minutes to his new troops, describing his philosophies, coaching style, tactics and expectations. He emphasized “courage” as being one of the key expectations for his players.
“I was very impressed with how he carried himself and some of the things he said,” said Frank Potenza, who started at quarterback as a freshman on varsity in 2015. “He has a lot of knowledge and I think he’ll provide us great leadership.”
Under Lantzy, Eisenhower won 13 Macomb Area Conference championships and multiple long state tournament runs. The Eagles finished as the state runner-up in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Stoney Creek has never advanced beyond district play of the state tournament since the school first opened in 2002-03.
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