DANVILLE — Danville native Glen Rowell has been building up his football experience in coaching since graduating from Danville High in 2009.
Now he will bring that experience back home.
Rowell was named the head coach of the Schlarman Academy football team on Tuesday, replacing Jason Dixon, who went 0-9 in his only season.
“I didn’t think it would be all the way back home but God works in mysterious ways,” Rowell said. “It was a situation where the head seventh grade boys basketball coach (Demetrius Wade) reached out. We grew up together and he said this position would come open. I had been interviewing for jobs and it was one of those things were that I got experience as an assistant, but I wanted an experience as a head coach.”
When he applied recently, he found another familiar face.
“I applied for it and my former assistant principal in Danville — Tracy Cherry — is the interim principal at Schlarman and our athletics director Eryn Forsyth made the process smooth and our goals and visions aligned about the football program and the school and it was hard to say no,” Rowell said. “It has always been a dream to be a head coach, but I didn’t think it would be back at home and trying to build a program.”
“We are really excited about Glen, he is exactly what we need at this moment,” Forsyth said. “We are in a rebuild phase and I think he will get us to the finish line. Between his drive and ethics and his commitment to the community, he represents what Schlarman represents which is community, hard work, drive and success. We have had a great tradition of football, but we have fallen off the last few years. We need him to focus on this and I think we are helping.”
The program is coming off slow seasons filled with lack of player depth that have led to forfeit losses for the Hilltoppers. While Rowell has not coached 8-man, he has experiences in a brand of football a little bit similar.
“I have to go in and build relationships and bring excitement and I have to use my resources to the program to give the kids something to look forward to,” Rowell said. “I have been at the college level and played arena football and that and 8-man is somewhat similar, so I am going to have that experience. I am a student of the game and I want to continue to learn this game. It is going to be a transition. I am ready for the challenge and having Arena Football experience is going to help a lot. “
Rowell went to Joliet Junior College in 2009 and transferred to Kentucky Christian University in 2011. He was a three-year starter at linebacker and after graduating in 2015, he tried out for NFL and CFL teams and played in indoor football with the Bloomington Edge, Kansas City Phantoms and the Tri-Town Titans.
In-between those tryouts, he coached the Ravens and Bears local youth football teams, was an assistant in the Hoopeston Area/Schlarman co-op of 2018, was an assistant wrestling coach for Danville from 2015-2019 and coached track and field at North Ridge Middle School.
From 2019-2023, Rowell was an assistant football coach, recruiting coordinator and assistant wrestling coach at Kentucky Wesleyan College and has spent the last few years in Indianapolis, where he was athletics director, head track and field coach, dean of culture and PE and health teacher.
What Rowell will do is work within the community to get more players and change the culture of the program.
“Before I left (in 2019), I coached youth football and mentoring and kept giving back,” Rowell said. “I have been a recruiting coordinator and worked with the community at the college level, so I want to take that experience and try to change the culture for the kids.
“I want to build relationships in the building from K-12 and build relationships with the parents. We have the (Danville Saints youth football team) practice on our field and we can go to Douglas Park and talk to the coaches. I am a people person, a community person and a family man and my players and coaching staff will be there as well. We will market ourselves in the community with the relationships we build.”
For Forsyth, this is another hire in trying to change the reputation of sports at Schlarman. She hired Zach Patterson for the boys basketball team before last season and it paid off big with a regional title.
“To have our boys have that success ins basketball was heart-warming,” Forsyth said. “Schlarman has been through it the last few years and we needed a culture shift and that is something that I have stressed to all of my coaches. I have been lucky to hire coaches for our athletics programs and we have to change the mindset and we have to believe. I think if you hire the right coaches, it will trickle down to the players and that is what the basketball team showed.”
She also stated that Rowell’s hiring hopefully will lead to the Hilltoppers returning to 11-man football in the future.
“We are grateful to be in 8-man and it is a great options for smaller schools to stay in football. We would not have a football program is 8-man was unavailable to us,” Forsyth said. “But I think every school in 8-man wants to return to 11-man. I talked to Glen about that, but we have to get the attendance up at Schlarman Academy and get more students to participate in football and sustain it. We have to build it and that takes changing the culture and buying in. It is going to take a couple of years before anything could happen. We are thrilled to have him. We are in an upward trajectory and we want to keep going.”
Rowell is excited about the opportunity and knows that the school and community will be watching whatever he does during the summer leading into his first season leading the Hilltoppers.
“It is going to be like if I am doing the work, people will be watching because it is a first-year coach and wanting to see how I am going to go,” Rowell said. “But what is done off the filed will help build the culture and I will make it exciting that I am going to be hands-on and I want to bring resources from the college level and bring eyes to the central Illinois area. I wanted to do what needs to be done and bring more resources to Danville and Vermilion County.
“I have tons of support and love because people have seen what I have been through and how I Keep excelling and they are pushing for me to do great and when you feel that love, it is going to make me go 10 times harder. Coaching is something for me where it can reach family, community, faith and I will walk in my faith. I want to bring that positivity here and bring the love.”