Maker Of Men

During the summer and fall months it isn’t difficult to find Mike Burzawa.

Most afternoons, he parks himself on the Evanston High School football field ready for practices, summer workouts or game planning sessions.

It makes sense. He is, after all, the head football coach at Evanston High School.

But despite winning eight Illinois state championships at now defunct Driscoll High School—one as a high school player, four as the school’s offensive coordinator and three as the head coach—and bringing the Wildkit football program back to prominence in just four seasons, Burzawa is as proud of the IHSA Academic Achievement Award his squad won last year with a team grade point average of 3.0.

One of the most celebrated active high school football coaches in Illinois looked across Church Street at the high school building and talked as much about the strides the Evanston football program has made scholastically.

“My coaching philosophy is caring about kids and really helping them grow from young boys and develop into men within four years and really help them get into a productive career,” Burzawa said. “That’s something we’ve really prided ourselves on is getting kids into college.

“That’s truly what coaching is about to me—helping kids reach their goals. I’ve been very blessed to get to do what I love for a living.”

Winning never gets old for Burzawa who had his first winning season at Evanston last year. He just sees it as secondary.

Though his passion for football is clear when he directs practice and addresses his players, he hopes to use the game he loves to help his players achieve success beyond high school athletics. That means he stays in his players lives—even in the offseason.

If one of his players wants to play in college, he gets them there. Last year 14 of 30 seniors went onto play college football at some level.

“When he says that he can get guys to play college football, he really means it,” senior outside linebacker and defensive end Leonard Garron said. “I’ve never seen anybody that puts in so much effort and has so much success in getting guys to play college football that want to. He lets us know that if we want to play college football, he will find a spot.”

Garron has already gotten offers from respected Division I football programs but like a typical Burzawa player is academically motivated and considering playing football in the Ivy League.

Commanding Respect

Before Burzawa was hired at Evanston as head coach, the school formed a search committee which included Wildkit defensive coordinator Steve King.

King, who played collegiately at the University of Michigan and coached the secondary under the previous regime, had a vision for Evanston football.

Sure, like any high school football aficionado, King was aware of Burzawa’s accolades. But what impressed him most was Burzwa’s ability to relate to a community and foster team discipline—attributes Kind foresaw would translate to success on the field.

“We were looking for someone who was going to be committed to the Evanston community as well as the program and trying to get the program to where it was before,” King said. “Someone that really cared about the kids not only as football players but young adults.”

So when Burzawa took the program over in 2008, it didn’t take long for players to buy into his philosophies—both athletically and academically.

Always prepared and extremely dedicated, Burzawa is enjoying the fruits of the first senior class he has had exclusively under his tenure. He took over when players like Garron and quarterback Max Blocker were freshman.

“He’s a great guy,” Blocker who is looking to play football at an Ivy League school, said. “We all recognize how much work he puts in. He’s the first one here and I’m not even sure he goes home every night.”

Nice to be winning

Burzawa has certainly established a culture of priorities with the Wildkit football program but that doesn’t mean it has gone at the expense of winning. Winning games is still a priority.

In the three seasons prior Burzawa has seen his squad improve every year—going from a 2-7 season in 2008 to 6-3 regular season in 2010 that saw the team make the class 8A playoffs.

Though school administrators understood that changing the culture of a football program takes some years, it’s fair to say that Burzawa is ahead of schedule.

“We wanted to start out this decade and have a winning decade, starting with the 2010 team and we accomplished that last year,” Burzawa said.

An increase in success has fostered an increase in expectations.

After losing in the first round the Wildkits aim to win playoffs games this year. They are 3-1 through the first four weeks and start Central Suburban League South Conference play with a homecoming game Friday against Glenbrook South.

It’s safe to assume Burzawa will have his team ready.

“I’m just a firm believer that if you do things the right way on and off the field and you prepare that the wins and losses are going to take care of themselves,” Burzawa said. “I do remember early on that the first couple of kids on our early teams, it was all about winning. And it’s really about preparing to win.”

Not just in football, but life.