CoachBuzea0
Local News

H-F football coach Buzea leaving for Indiana job

 

Homewood-Flossmoor High School football coach Craig Buzea was approved for the same position at Crown Point High School in Indiana Tuesday, punctuating a decade of gridiron success for the Vikings that included 10 playoff berths and a state runner-up finish.

Buzea, who lives in Indiana, took over the H-F program in 2010 after 15 years coaching at Portage and Michigan City High Schools. The Vikings were 1-8 the season before he was hired. He turned things around almost immediately, posting a 10-3 mark in his first year and an overall record of 92-24 in 10 seasons at Homewood-Flossmoor. 

Coach Craig Buzea cheers on his players during the 2018 homecoming game, which the Vikings won 46-0. (Chronicle file photo)

Buzea had a virtual meeting with his H-F players Monday before the news broke. 

“That’s never fun but I think they understand the situation I’m in,” Buzea said. “There are a lot of good coaches at H-F. That program is not about me. It’s about everybody. The program is on cruise control. They just need to find someone who’s going to take the wheel and keep it going.”

He’ll remain at H-F as a physical education teacher and coach through the end of the current school year. If the IHSA allows football this spring, Buzea will coach one more season.

Some of his assistant coaches will likely make the move with him. He said he’ll begin staffing work by interviewing current Crown Point coaches this week.

Buzea was set to retire as a teacher after this school year, he said. He was weighing the options of retiring, remaining at H-F as a coach only or a position on a staff in Alabama. The opportunity at Crown Point was too good to pass, he said.

Crown Point has the 12th-largest student enrollment in Indiana in a growing community. The school is a member of the Duneland Athletic Conference, to which Buzea said he was eager to return.

“I had a conversation with (Crown Point Athletic Director Bill Dorulla) and decided to go through the interview process and the more I got into that, the more I liked it. I just thought this was a place I’d love to finish my career off,” he said. “It’s only a 20-minute ride from home, which is important to me. The facilities are great. It’s just a fantastic community. The timing was right and I decided to jump on it.” 

H-F Athletic Director Matthew Lyke said the search for a new coach will begin immediately, even while Buzea remains on through the spring. The IHSA board may vote on a sports calendar Wednesday.

Lyke said both internal and external coaches will be considered.

“Coach Buzea is a tremendous teacher, coach, mentor and friend. The football program had a decade of excellence under his leadership. The Homewood-Flossmoor High School community is extremely fortunate for his dedication to the football program. The current student athletes and alumni have memories that will last a lifetime,” Lyke said in an email to the Chronicle. “I am forever grateful for the opportunity to work with Coach Buzea. I am hopeful for a football season this school year, so we are able to celebrate his career as a Viking. He will truly be missed. Once a Viking, always a Viking.”

News by email

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name

Free weekly newsletter

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name
Most read stories this week