Coach Bob Lantzy
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek athletic director Rick Jakacki was having lunch with a college friend, Mike Scrivano, a few months ago — the final day applications were being accepted for the Cougars’ head football coaching job.
“It’s too bad Bob Lantzy didn’t apply,” Scrivano said.
Jakacki didn’t know Lantzy personally, but he did know he was one of the state’s most successful coaches when he retired from Utica Eisenhower after the 2011 season.
Jakacki knew this was a vitally important hire. Stoney Creek has played football for 14 years but has yet to win a state playoff game and is the smallest school in the powerful OAA Red.
Scrivano’s son played for Lantzy, and you would have to go far to find a bigger Lantzy fan.
“What’s his phone number?” Jakacki asked.
When he returned to his office, Jakacki called Lantzy — and that led to an application and a series of phone calls.
There were a couple of obstacles to overcome. No. 1, Lantzy was in Arizona, where he lives six months of the year. No. 2, he is 70.
With the ability to Skype, living in Arizona was no big deal. As far as being 70, Jakacki learned that age is just a number.
“He’s not 70,” Jakacki insisted. “I don’t care what his birth certificate says, he’s not 70. He’s got a lot left in him.”
So for the next several years, much of what Lantzy has left will be devoted to Stoney Creek football.
Until he retired, Lantzy was the only head coach in Eisenhower history. He coached there for 41 seasons and built a powerhouse, four times advancing to the state championship game.
Lantzy never submitted a résumé to Stoney Creek, but this should do: 304-155-1, his record at Eisenhower. He is tied as the ninth-winningest coach in state history.
In each of his final two seasons, Ike lost to the eventual state champion.
“I wasn’t really tired of football. I love football,” Lantzy said. “I probably needed a change.”
Lantzy thought total retirement was the change he needed, but after two years away from football he served as Ray Jones’ assistant for the eighth grade team at Romeo Powell for the last two seasons.
The team was undefeated last season, and Lantzy knew he wanted back in, under the right circumstances. So did his wife, Joan.
“My wife never wanted me not to coach,” Lantzy said. “She and I always talked about it. She would tell me which jobs were open and I said it had to be fate that makes it happen.”
In this case, fate was Jakacki having lunch with Scrivano.
Lantzy came back to Michigan for a week in March, a month after he was named coach, and had a meet-and-greet with his players, their parents and the booster club.
“One kid came up to me after it was over and hugged me,” Jakacki said. “He thanked me for hiring the best coach in the state.”
Lantzy still plans to return to Arizona once football season ends. He had retired from teaching and spent the winter in Arizona his last couple of years coaching at Ike, so he knows it is possible.
“I believe in seasons,” he said. “I believe I can get a team ready in time. It’s the kids’ responsibility to do some of the preparation work. The thing we have to go back to is that kids play multiple sports more and more with less running around to other places and learn it in your own school.
“The state is giving us open time to have camps you can do during the summer. I don’t feel limited in any way. I’m going to do it exactly like I did in ’09, ’10 and ’11.”
Lantzy never had the benefit of getting kids outside of the Eisenhower school district. When the school’s boundaries were changed late in his career, the program had to be rebuilt and revitalized, which he accomplished in grand style.
That may have kept him coaching at Eisenhower a bit longer than he planned.
“I just wanted to see if I can do it again and we did it,” he said. “It was a real pleasure to go out at the end.”
Now he is going to try to do it one more time.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1
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