There will be a new head varsity football coach at Riverside-Brookfield High School next year. Head coach Brendan Curtin told his team last week that he is resigning as head coach.
Curtin, a former starting quarterback at RBHS, will remain as assistant principal for athletics, which is the title used at RBHS for a position more commonly known as athletic director, a position he assumed in 2018. Curtin apparently has known for some time that this would be his last season as head coach.
“Brendan and I had a conversation this summer prior to the start of the season. He shared that this would be his last year as head coach,” said District 208 Superintendent Kevin Skinkis in an email.
Curtin has been the head varsity coach at RBHS for the past 10 years. Serving as both head football coach and as athletic director is difficult and time consuming job. Curtin also has two adolescent children who are both athletes.
Skinkis praised the job Curtin did as football coach, both on and off the field.
“We respect and understand Brendan’s decision to step down as the head coach and appreciate everything he has done for the RB football program,” Skinkis wrote. “Brendan was committed to not only building a football program but also developing young men. He established a culture both on and off the field that expected student-athletes to work as hard in the classroom and the community as they did on the field.”
In his 10 years as head coach Curtin’s teams compiled a record of 48-46 and made the state playoffs six times. He took over a program that was at a low ebb two years after Otto Zeman was dismissed as football coach. After going 2-7 and 1-8 in his first two seasons, Curtin turned the program around and posted three straight winning seasons.
Curtin’s best team was the 2015 squad led by quarterback/linebacker Ryan Swift, which went 10-2 and won two playoff games advancing to the Class 6A quarterfinals in the state playoffs. Those were the only playoff wins for RBHS under Curtin, whose teams went a combined 25-7 from 2015 to 2017.
Prior to being hired at RBHS, Curtin was the offensive coordinator at Nazareth Academy.
This year’s team finished 5-5 and made the state playoffs, losing in the first round to East Saint Louis. The Bulldogs started the season 5-1 but lost their final four games as they faced the three powerhouse teams of the Metro Suburban Conference in their last three games of the regular season.
Reached by email, Curtin declined immediate comment. As assistant principal for athletics, Curtin is expected to play a major role in choosing his successor.
