Leboeuf’s Falcons took flight

Everyone knows a coach is only as good as his players. You can add his staff to the equation as well.

That is precisely how Whitnall’s Rob Leboeuf sees his honor as the 2008 CNI All-Suburban Football Coach of the Year as voted on by the sports staff.

Leboeuf, a fiery competitor during his playing days as a quarterback at Muskego High School, has been Whitnall’s head coach for five seasons.

The Falcons went 3-6 in his first season in 2004, then went two seasons without a victory. They knocked on the door of the WIAA playoffs by going 4-5 in 2007 and made it this season, finishing 5-5.

“An honor like this, all the credit goes to the kids in the program and our assistant coaches, without question,” Leboeuf said. “I view this more as a program award than anything else, and especially seeing that we don’t have any kids make the All-Suburban list.

“Really, it’s a credit to everybody involved; not just the head coach or the assistant coaches. It’s everybody involved with it that made up the team and has allowed us to have the success that we had.”

Rob Stoltz, Leboeuf’s rival at Greendale, spoke about the enthusiasm Leboeuf has had while going through a difficult building process.

“He’s such a competitive guy, almost to a fault, because he will not walk away from a less-than-ideal situation or one that leaves something to be desired,” Stoltz said. “He brought in a solid staff … taking trips to West Virginia, meeting with (coach) Rich Rodriguez at Michigan this past year to try to incorporate some of their offense.

“He’s a very intelligent, schematic guy. He’s a tireless worker, really only wants the best for his kids — really, really does — and I think he gets a lot out of those kids.”

Leboeuf expects his team to be better next season.

“We’d like to always continue to build upon the success that we have had from years past,” Leboeuf said. “We talk about our program getting better today than we were yesterday. Yesterday to us is going to be last year. Today to us will be this upcoming season.

“We want to take that approach and try to get one game better than what we were last year. If we exceed those expectations, it will be time to re-evaluate our goals and see where we want to go from there.

“This year, we made the playoffs. A realistic goal for us next year is to win one game in the playoffs. If we won six games at some point during next season, then maybe we ought to re-evaluate and say, ‘Let’s try to win the league.’

“That’s where we’re at and where we want to take it. We’re certainly getting better in all aspects.”

Jerry Karpowicz can be reached at (262) 446-6628.

Honor Roll

CNI All-Suburban Football Coaches

1989: Bob Collins, Nicolet

1990: Phil Datka, Germantown

1991: Greendale Staff

1992: Stan Grove, Hamilton

1993: Carey Venne, Cudahy

1994: Dennis Johnson, Muskego

1995: Jeff Setz, New Berlin Eisenhower

1996: Doug Sarver, St. Francis

1997: Rick Synold, Brookfield Central

1998: Brad Knoche, South Milwaukee

1999: Scott Zwirschitz, Franklin

2000: John Sterner, Muskego

2001: Rob Stoltz, Greendale

2002: Doug Sarver, St. Francis

2003: Ken Krause, West Allis Central

2004: Rob Green, Brown Deer

2005: Scott Otto, West Allis Hale

2006: Doug Lange, Brookfield Central

2007: Tom Swittel, Wauwatosa East

2008: Rob Leboeuf, Whitnall