New Brother Rice coach Casey Quedenfeld ‘excited’ to get back to coaching

Casey Quedenfeld is ready to coach again.

After spending a year learning about the Brother Rice community, the Chicago Catholic League and Illinois football in general, the first-year Brother Rice coach is excited to get back to the field this summer and build his program.

“Finally being here on the field,” Quedenfeld said, “I’m happy.”

Brother Rice hired Quedenfeld in July 2021 knowing that 2021 would be Brian Badke’s final season as the Crusaders head coach after 10 seasons. Quedenfeld coached in two top football programs in the nation — Episcopal High School in Bellaire, Texas, and Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

Quedenfeld served as a defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator and won a state title in 2019 and finished runner-up in 2018 with Episcopal and was an offensive coordinator and assistant coach at Loyola, where former college coach Marvin Sanders mentored him.

The new coach bases his culture on four things: commitment, discipline, accountability and effort. He wants to build a strong culture not only on what he learned from his different experiences both in Texas and California but also what he experienced over the past year.

“It’s different,” Quedenfeld said. “Any head coach coming into any place is going to do what they know. You only know what you know, so I only know what I know and said we’re going to run the offense I know, the defense that I know and the type of culture I know.”

Quedenfeld takes over a team that lost in the Class 7A semifinals to eventual champion Wheaton North last season. The Crusaders lost in the state semifinals in 2019 and lost in the Class 8A state title game in 2018.

While Quedenfeld hasn’t stopped any of his players from talking about last season and how close they came to playing in a title game, he knows that they’re more focused on how to become better this year and not dwell on the past.

“It’s their team, it has nothing to do with me,” Quedenfeld said. “They talked about it in our culture talks, they want it to be their team, they want it to be their season. The fantastic year that was Brother Rice football last year isn’t really talked about, not because it’s shut down by any stretch of the imagination. These guys just want to get better, learn the new stuff and get ready for the first week.”

Rising senior Trey Pierce has noticed a change in practices during summer camp, with more movement on the defensive line. Players need to think more on the fly with more ways to align and more stunts.

Pierce thinks his team has made a lot of progress in learning the new system and have adjusted well to the new culture Quedenfeld brought with him.

“It’s a lot of learning, a lot of new things, but it’s also a lot of good things,” Pierce said. “It’s a lot more cerebral practices, just learning really.”

Quedenfeld doesn’t think his team is a finished product midway through July but is happy to see how quickly his players have bought into his system and culture.

He’s excited to watch his players put the pieces together and ready to get back to coaching on Aug. 26 against Hillcrest after a year away from the sidelines.

“It’s been a year off from coaching,” Quedenfeld said. “I’m just excited to coach.”