After 30 seasons, Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll is a champion

DeKALB – Richmond-Burton head coach Mike Noll held his hands over his head in a double fist pump. He turned toward his bench and met a cooler full of ice cold water.

After 30 years as a varsity head coach in Illinois, after taking a two-year break from the varsity job and landing at a new school, Mike Noll is a state champion.

His 249th win proved the sweetest yet. R-B derailed Murphysboro, 50-14, in the IHSA Class 4A state championship game Friday.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Noll said. “As a head coach, it’s not the reason you coach. You coach because you love the game, and you love working with kids. I think that winning at the highest level is important to coaches. I’d be lying if I denied that.”

Noll strode along the R-B sideline in a gray hoodie with the word “FINISH” on the back. He called the game, as he does every game, without a headset on. Call it old fashioned, it’s just the way Noll operates.

Every offensive down, quarterback Jacob Huber ran to the sideline and Noll relayed the call. Noll held a play card in his hands, but rarely looked at it for long.

“I’ve got to call the game and I have a good feel for what I’m seeing,” Noll said. “If I need to look at something, I look at the iPad, but I would rather not.”

Whatever he was feeling Friday was right. The Rockets piled up 370 yards of total offense, winning their first state championship since 1992.

That year Noll was down the road coaching his fifth season at McHenry. He coached the Warriors to 14 Fox Valley Conference championships in 16 seasons and never missed the playoffs. He later turned a downtrodden Glenbrook South program into a perennial Class 8A playoff qualifier.

Noll stepped down as varsity coach at Glenbrook South following the 2015 season, his 12th season leading the program. He coached the Glenbrook South freshman team for two years in order to “recharge my battery a little bit.”

“I took two years off as the head coach, which I think was really important because it kind of allowed me to step back, figure something out, keep studying the game,” Noll said.

Even then, he had his eye on the next move.

“I was looking for jobs that last year at GBS and this just happened to be the one that fit,” Noll said. “I interviewed a lot of places, but this was the one.”

It is, indeed, the one.

Noll has brought the Rockets to heights they haven't seen in two and a half decades. The players bought in and carried Noll’s first R-B team to the semifinals a year ago.

Even with high hopes coming into 2019, they blew away all expectations, winning the semifinal and championship games by 30 points.

“It’s really special for us, and I know it’s special for him,” senior fullback and linebacker Dalton Wood said. “He’s an unbelievable coach. He’s helped us so well. With him coming in last year we were all excited because we heard how much success he did have. After the first summer workout, we knew how much he was going to push us and make us better.”

Following Friday’s ice bath and the celebration with the players, Noll took a moment to hug those of his six grandchildren in attendance, and took a group photo with all his family who could attend the game.

“We’re a football family,” Noll said. “I don’t think people realize the sacrifices that wives make and kids make. You’re just gone so much.”

Even after 30 seasons, the job can find a new way to reward a coach.