Football: Rohde steps down at Elgin to focus on son's health

When Kyle Rohde took over as Elgin High's 25th head football coach in 2013 he had every intention of running the program at his alma mater for many years.

But in a true story of family comes first, Rohde resigned his position on Wednesday, Maroons' athletic director Paul Pennington announced.

Rohde's son Alex, who will be 1-year old on April 14, has a rare genetic condition called Smith-Magenis Syndrome. which is a partial deletion of the 17th chromosome that can affect many parts of the body. The major features of Smith-Magenis include mild to moderate intellectual disability, delayed speech and language skills, distinctive facial features, sleep disturbances, and behavioral problems.

According to the Genetics Home Reference website, Smith-Magenis syndrome affects at least 1 in 25,000 individuals worldwide. Researchers believe that many people with this condition are not diagnosed, however, so the true prevalence may be closer to 1 in 15,000 individuals.

"It's not a life-threatening situation," said Rohde, who played for Elgin playoff teams in 2001 and 2002 before going on to play at Millikin University, where he was an offensive lineman and long snapper.

"We knew about it when he was born but now there's a lot of therapy that has to be done and a lot of it has to be done at home because he's very weak. Only time will tell but it's possible he may never be able to leave the house."

Rohde and his wife, Aileen, have one other son, Charlie, who is 4 and healthy. The Rohdes are 2002 Elgin High graduates.

"With everything being so unknown I need to take at least a year off from coaching, but it may be longer," said Rohde, who had been an assistant for the Maroons, including defensive coordinator for three years, before becoming the head coach two years ago. "It's the choice I had to make right now. It's just too much too quickly. The staff and I went over a lot of scenarios on how to make it work but you can't be the head coach and not be there all the time."

Despite the fact the Maroons were just 1-17 under Rohde, he felt the program was making progress, both on and off the field, including earning a 31-13 win over Larkin this past season that snapped a 19-game losing streak and put the Town Jug in the Elgin High trophy case for the first time since 2010.

"Football-wise I feel we're far ahead of where we were two years ago in terms of the kids' accountability," said Rohde, who is the vice president of operations for Howard Sportswear and Graphics in Elgin. "The kids really started to respond to the message of how things were supposed to be done. Unfortunately I won't get to coach them into their senior year."

Rohde made it clear that depending on how Alex's health progresses, he would love to return to coaching, and it would be at Elgin High.

"It was my dream job," he said. "I love Elgin High and I'm hoping to get back on the field but there's no timetable on that right now."