Jack Brady moving up as St. Bede head coach

Jack Brady has had his hands on St. Bede football in one way or another for more than a decade.

He was the Bruins' starting and record-setting quarterback, graduating in 2015.

For nine years, he served on Jim Eustice’s coaching staff, taking over as offensive coordinator the past five.

This fall, he will move into a more prominent role as the Bruins' head coach. His hiring was announced Tuesday morning to succeed Eustice, who left after 10 seasons to take over the Mendota job.

“It’s a dream come true to me. Since I started helping Jim, it was something I thought I wanted to do as time went on.”

—  Jack Brady

While he may not have had the foresight when he was playing at St. Bede to think about being the Bruins' head coach one day, it became more on his radar in recent years.

“It’s a dream come true to me. Since I started helping Jim, it was something I thought I wanted to do as time went on,” Brady said.

Brady said he learned a lot coaching under Eustice.

“It’s Jim’s offense, his design. But over the past five years he trusted me more and more, calling/installing plays,” Brady said. “Not like I invented anything new, but Jim trusted me a lot more on decision making.”

He said, like Eustice did, he will make adjustments according to the personnel they have.

“Every year will be different with the players we have,” he said. “Jim is just an encyclopedia of offensive football. Through my nine years I’ve seen us change our style of offense to best fit our players. That’s what I’m most appreciative of Jim for. One, giving me the opportunity to help him out as a 19-year-old kid and giving me some responsibility along the way. And two, the amount of knowledge he has passed down to me.”

Brady said he will be able to relate to and share his experiences playing at St. Bede under two coaches, John Bellino and Eustice, with his players.

“I was right at the tail end of a change in a generation of football and just the styles of coaching and overall operation of a football program. I’m thankful to be able to see both of those eras,” he said. “More of a tough-love era and being able to be a players' coach, too, and understand these kids and relate to them and effectively coach them.”

The new Bruins head coach said he is in the early stages of putting his coaching staff together.

By day, Brady, 28, is an electrician for his family’s electrical business in La Salle. He and his fiancee, Melissa Trilikis, are the parents of a 10-month-old son, Jack.

Eustice is excited to see his protege take over as head coach and continue what they’ve started.

“Jack was with me for nine years. He’s an alum and has done a great job,” Eustice said. “He’s taken on more and more responsibility in the offense. He [was] pretty much my right-hand man on offense the last five, six, seven years.

“I’m excited, and I’m going to be rooting for him big time. He’s got the support of the community for sure around here. It’s a way of life that Jack understands what St. Bede is.”

As a senior, Brady broke his own school record, throwing for 23 touchdowns along with 2,197 yards. He also played basketball and was a member of the 2015 Bruins baseball team that placed fourth at state.

Brady is one of six former Bruins captains to have come back on the St. Bede staff at one time or the other, including Bryant Eustice, Andrew Pyszka, Austin Schwab, Mike Slingsby and Sam Halm.

“For the 10 years here, we were developing the kids and all honesty, the coaches, too,” Eustice said. “In my mind, the continued success of the program and whatever levels they can take above and beyond is just a great reflection on what we’ve been doing for 10 years.”