Stuglis was fixture at South

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CRYSTAL LAKE – The spring was different, the summer will be different and the football season this fall certainly will be different for Crystal Lake South.

Jim Stuglis, the coach who took the Gators to the playoffs nine consecutive seasons, resigned his positions at the school early Wednesday morning after a long closed-door District 155 board meeting. Stuglis also was South’s athletic director and taught physical education.

He was best known as the winningest football coach in South’s 32-year history, one whose teams won first-round playoff games seven of the past eight seasons.

“We have to do the best we can and move forward,” said Chuck Ahsmann, who was named interim coach in May. “Jim’s done such a good job building a great tradition. I don’t want that to fall apart.”

Stuglis had been on administrative leave since late March when D-155 officials and the Crystal Lake Police Department started separate investigations into a possible theft or misappropriation of funds. The police are continuing their investigation.

Drew Ormseth, who quarterbacked South’s Class 7A semifinal playoff team in 2008, was one of the players at Tuesday’s board meeting in support of their coach.

“I’m really surprised,” Ormseth, who will be a senior this fall, said. “Jim Stuglis, as a person, I couldn’t ever see doing that.”

Ormseth said the seniors tried to rally the team for spring workouts because Ahsmann was busy as an assistant coach with the varsity baseball team.

“It was kind of different because [Stuglis] is usually in the weight room every day after school,” Ormseth said. “As leaders, we stepped up and got everyone in there.”

Ormseth and several other seniors visited Stuglis at his home Wednesday for about 30 minutes. They had not had any contact with their coach since he was placed on leave. Ormseth said Stuglis mainly asked about how their college searches were going. Later, the players went to Buffalo Wild Wings and talked some more.

“[Stuglis] was a good guy and I liked him a lot,” said guard Jake Bernstein, an NCAA Division-I recruit. “It’s a little rough, but this shouldn’t cause an obstacle. With all these guys putting in time, hopefully it will pay off for games.”

Stuglis was 80-32 in 10 seasons as head coach. The Gators’ nine consecutive playoff appearances is the longest current streak in the area. South and Cary-Grove have forged the area’s best rivalry during the past six seasons, often meeting in the regular season and again in the playoffs.

C-G athletic director and football coach Bruce Kay has attended a lot of meetings with Stuglis through the years.

“I’m sorry to see Jim leave, we had a great relationship and I respect what he’s done at South,” Kay said. “I consider Jim a close colleague. It’s unfortunate he’s no longer going to be working with us. I wish him the best.”

The situation has been particularly tough on Ahsmann, who’s coached at South for 22 years and has been Stuglis’ defensive coordinator the past 10 seasons.

“There’s really only been three football coaches at South,” Ahsmann said. “They’ve all been successful, so I have awful big shoes to fill. There was a lot of confusion early on, but we had a meeting and told [the players] the expectations are the same.”

Ahsmann, who has baseball coaching duties in the summer, will rely on the seniors for leadership through the next two months.

“We try to take on as much as we can,” Bernstein said. “We’re trying to take the stress off Mr. Ahsmann because he’s going through a lot.”

As head coach, Ahsmann will continue to make the defensive calls and let assistant coach Bill Altman handle the offensive play calls. In the past, Stuglis called the offense.