Hampshire names Brasile new football coach

Hampshire High School has a new football coach for the first time in a quarter century.

Leyden assistant Mike Brasile will become Hampshire's next coach, pending District 300 board approval, the school announced via release Friday.

Brasile replaces Dan Cavanaugh (121-122), who retired from coaching last fall after 25 seasons, nine playoff appearances and a Class 2A state title in 1995.

"This has always been my lifelong goal," Brasile said of becoming a head coach. "I'm excited about being of service to the community. I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone at Hampshire and carrying on the great football tradition there. I've already had parents calling me and they've been very supportive. I feel at home there."

Brasile, who will become just the fourth head football coach in Hampshire history, is a 1999 Woodstock High School graduate who was a captain on the Blue Streaks' 1997 state championship team.

After a four-year playing career at Augustana, he graduated with a degree in Psychology and went on to obtain his teaching certificate from Colorado University in 2006. Brasile returned to Woodstock as a teacher that fall and began his coaching career under Steve Beard. He was elevated to offensive coordinator for the 2009 season, when the Blue Streaks won the Fox Division of the Fox Valley Conference and reached a Class 5A state semifinal.

Following two more seasons as Woodstock's offensive coordinator, he moved to Leyden, where he coached the offensive and defensive line at multiple levels before he became varsity offensive line coach last season under coach Tom Cerasani, Jr.

"He has a good pedigree," said Hampshire Athletic Director Dave Hicks. "I've heard a lot of good things about him in the classroom and with how he works with the feeder programs."

Brasile will teach social studies at Hampshire, where fans of the football program should expect a different style of offense moving forward.

"Coach Cavanaugh had great success with the old double-wing, double-tight, running power football," Brasile said. "That's not something I'm familiar with. I'm more familiar with the single-back, pro-style offense, so I plan to stick to something I know. We plan to be more of a shotgun-spread team. I played both ways in high school for Ed Brucker and I've adopted some of his ideas, some of Steve Beard's ideas and some of Cerasani's.

"I want to develop young leaders for the community, people who want to be successful in life. I want to teach them life skills. Football wins come and go, but putting in hard work and doing things right is what makes teams successful."

John Radtke contributed to this report