2024 Northwest Herald Football Coach of the Year: Burlington Central’s Brian Iossi

He’s the voice behind the PA mic during girls basketball games and the voice of Burlington Central’s rising football program, which dialed it up this fall.

Former North Central College radio announcer Brian Iossi didn’t necessarily see the high school team he coaches spin records in 2024, but he did watch quarterback Jackson Alcorn set the school mark for passing yards (469) and touchdown passes (six) in a game against defending Fox Valley Conference champ Prairie Ridge.

The Rockets spun hits all season, in truth. They won eight games, earned their first state playoff appearance in 10 years and captured their first postseason victory in 18 years.

Iossi – or “Yos” as he’s called by his players and those who know him best – is the 2024 Northwest Herald Football Coach of the Year, as voted on by the sports staff.

The former Glenbard North High School and NCC center, who’s been behind the PA mic for Central girls basketball games since 2022, answered several questions from sports writer Joe Aguilar.

Which game this season will you most remember?

Iossi: The way we played at Prairie Ridge [in Week 7] is probably a game that I’ll remember forever. That’s a team that really has been our Achilles' heel [in seven seasons coaching at Central, three as head coach]. PR was just the team that we’d always struggled against. So to beat them and in the fashion that we did [52-21 for the team’s fifth win], I’ll never forget it. Our game plan going into it was a little out there, and our kids executed it great.

Who’s been the biggest influence in your coaching career?

Iossi: I would say probably both of my college coaches [at North Central College], [head coach] John Thorne and his son Jeff [offensive coordinator]. John treated us like we were his sons, like we were men, and that’s something that we bring into our program [at Central]. We make sure to emphasize our boys having a voice in our program. We treat them like they’re one of us. I get that from John and everything he instilled in us at North Central. ... And Darrell Crouch [too], who was the head coach at Washington [Community] High School outside of Peoria. It was my third year coaching but really my first time in a program that was successful.

What did you learn from Coach Crouch, who retired last year and is in the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame?

Iossi: His wife, Kathleen, was very involved in the program, and that’s something that my wife [Kristen] and I wanted to emphasize in a program that I took over – making it feel like a family. He’s been a big influence in how I run this program and how I coach every day. ... It’s a family affair, for sure [at Central]. My son [Cade, 9] was our ball boy this year, and my wife and daughter [Raeghan, 8] were at every game this year. My wife and I have been together since high school. Coaching is something that she knew way back then that I wanted to do. It takes a special woman to marry a head coach, and just a football coach in general. I couldn’t do it without her. She knows all of my boys [in the program]. She’s at all of our games – JV games, freshman games. I’m very fortunate to have her in my corner. And my kids, too. My son plays football in the local organization that feeds into our program, and my daughter is involved in the cheerleading program. I always joke that we’re kind of the All-American family.

This year’s team featured nine seniors who started as sophomores – Jackson Alcorn, Liam Ballantyne, Rocco Boss, LJ Kerr, McKade Naus, Chase Powrozek, Zach Samaan, Jack Therkildsen and Caden West. As a first-year head coach in 2022, what did you see in them as sophomores?

Iossi: They were a talented group. They didn’t have a lot of linemen. We had one lineman on the offensive side of the ball and one on the defensive side of the ball, and everyone else was a skill player. We saw early that they were raw, but super athletic.

Who’s the one person on your coaching staff whom you go to when you need to bounce ideas off?

Iossi: Nick Scoliere, who’s my defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, is about 10 years younger than me. He and I got hired by [former head coach] Brian Melvin at Burlington in the same year. Nick was just coming out of school. He played at Marmion [Academy] and North Dakota State, where he was linebacker. I was coming over from Hampshire, where I was the offensive coordinator for a couple of years, and Melvin hired me to come over and be offensive coordinator at Central. Nick and I clicked almost immediately. I’ve been coaching 16 years, and I think Nick is one of the best defensive minds in the state. He’s brilliant as a defensive coordinator. He could go coach college right now. He loves our program and does everything for our kids. He is the one guy I go to when we got to make a tough decision. I don’t know that I could coach without him. We’re really close. Our families are close. My kids love him. My daughter, especially, loves him.

What’s the most difficult position to teach in football?

Iossi: That’s a good one. It depends. I’m an offensive line coach by trade, and I generally think that offensive line is pretty complex to coach. But over the years I’ve coached quarterbacks, too. Jackson [Alcorn] obviously makes coaching quarterbacks pretty easy. This is the first year I didn’t coach Jackson. We lost our offensive line coach this past season to Aurora, so I went back to coaching offensive line, which I was thrilled to do. But I would say [the most difficult position to teach] is quarterback or offensive line, and I know coach “Sco” would argue it’s linebackers.

What does the future hold for your program?

Iossi: We’ve looked at this from the beginning as more long-term success than just a flash in the pan. And I think a lot of people are going think that this [2024 season] is just a flash in the pan with a strong senior group. But we’ve built this program up, numbers-wise. We had 100 kids in the program three years ago, and we have 130 in the program this year. I’m projecting us to be close to 150 kids next year. This senior group was a pretty special group, talent-wise, but every group that we’ve gotten in the past couple of years has really shown that they have a lot of talent, too. When I took over three years ago, we had seven program wins [across four levels]. This year we had 27 program wins. ... My goal when I came into this program was to build a powerhouse, quite frankly. I live in town, my kids are going to go to Central, and my son is going to play for this high school someday. I’m looking at it as, in 20 years, what are we doing and what does our success look like. I’m hoping that we’re building it the right way to build long-term success.