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Crissey gets Glenbard South football job

When Ryan Crissey was introduced to players as Glenbard South's new football coach, he received a thunderous ovation.

The reaction was validation for Crissey that he's ready for the challenge.

Crissey, a longtime assistant in the Raiders' program, was named Glenbard South's head coach on Wednesday and the announcement came Thursday. Crissey, 31, takes the helm from Jeremy Cordell, the Raiders' coach the last five years who resigned in December to become the football coach at Lincoln-Way Central.

“We're excited,” said Glenbard South athletic director Tim Carlson, who interviewed five candidates among more than 50 applicants. “We know it's taken a lot of time to get to this point, but we feel Ryan's earned this opportunity.”

Crissey, a 2001 Glenbard West graduate who went to Elmhurst College, spent the last nine years coaching in Glenbard South's football program, the last four years as the varsity team's assistant head coach. He's coached special teams and on defense, and he's coached at the varsity, freshman and sophomore levels.

It's his familiarity with all three phases of the game and various levels of competition that makes Crissey confident he's ready to lead a program for the first time.

“It was definitely a long process and a great educational process working with everyone I've worked with,” Crissey said. “I had aspirations to be a head coach, but with Jeremy in place I kind of put it on the back burner. This is really a big honor.”

Before coming to Glenbard South Crissey spent three years coaching at St. Francis, the first two while still at Elmhurst College. The special education teacher is also an assistant girls track and field coach for the Raiders.

Crissey inherits a strong team returning 11 starters from an 8-3 season last fall. The Raiders have made the playoffs the last four years.

“Being around the program for so long, I have a unique perspective on Glenbard South football,” he said. “I'm really a product of the system. I'm homegrown. The program's in great shape, and we're ready to keep it going.”

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