Kankakee’s Nick Crowe navigating first year as head baseball coach

Heading into his first season as the head coach of the Kankakee baseball program, Nick Crowe knew it would be a season full of chances to learn in a new role.

A Manteno graduate, Crowe played at both Kankakee Community College and St. Xavier University before entering the world of teaching and coaching. He served as the JV head coach at his alma mater Manteno in his first year out of college in 2023 before coming over to Kankakee last year as a P.E. teacher and varsity assistant coach under former head coach Tony Sykes.

Now, as he takes over the head role for the first time at the varsity level, Crowe said he is expecting it to be a fun but occasionally difficult ride, and that surrounding himself with experience would be vital.

“I knew being a first-year head coach, there was going to be a lot of challenges for me and a lot of learning experiences for me,” he said. “That’s why I got two veterans on my coaching staff, Rob Zimbelman and Damon Denoyer. Both veteran coaches.”

Crowe and Zimbelman actually have a relationship that goes back years, to when Zimbelman served as Crowe’s coach in his little league days. With the first-hand knowledge of what Zimbelman brings to the table when it comes to developing baseball players, Crowe said having him join his staff was a must.

“Rob was an awesome coach for me growing up, so when he told me he was interested in the position I knew I needed to bring him along,” Crowe said.

Zimbelman, who in addition to his coaching experience was an administrator at Bradley-Bourbonnais before semi-retiring into an advisory role with the I-KAN Schools Regional Alternative Attendance Center, said joining Crowe’s staff was an opportunity he knew he had to take.

“Baseball, really all sports, have been my passion,” he said. “It’s kind of neat that it came full circle like that. I coached him and now I’m helping him coach and learn the ropes of being a first-year head coach. It’s just an awesome experience.”

For Crowe, the opening week of the season already has thrown him some obstacles. With a shorthanded team early on, he said the available group is having to power through the challenges until things smooth out.

“A big challenge we’ve been facing this year is five of our varsity players are either ineligible or hurt right now,” he said. “We’re always a next man up team, so everyone else has to step up now until those guys get back, and that’s where we’re at. We’re going to do what we can until then to try and weather the storm.”

But regardless of who is on the field, Crowe said that the main goal for him and his staff is to produce a culture for the team of professionalism and sportsmanship every day.

“What we mean by that is we look professional, we act professional and we play professional,” he said. “We want to go out there and we want to look the part at all times. We want to look respectable and give a respectable ball game to the other club.”