Chris Coll has been a Tri-West Bruin pretty much all his life. He grew up there and played high school football there under coach Mike Gillin — now the head coach at Indian Creek — in the early 1980s.
After a distinguished collegiate playing career at Franklin College, Coll went back home, and he’s been there ever since.
Until now.
On Wednesday night, Coll was formally approved as the next head football coach at Franklin Community High School. He replaces Adam Reese, who recently stepped down after three seasons.
Coll joined the Tri-West coaching staff in 1990 and was a part of four state championships there. He was the team’s passing game coordinator when the Bruins beat Carroll (Flora) for the 1996 Class A title, and he was the offensive coordinator for Class 2A championship teams in 2003 and 2004.
Even back then, current Franklin College head coach Mike Leonard was an admirer.
“I’ve always greatly admired the way he has conducted himself,” Leonard said. “It was just masterful the job he did in 2003 at Tri-West as the offensive coordinator.”
Coll became the head coach at his alma mater in 2006, and he posted a 79-43 record in that position. He is 48-13 over the past five seasons, and he coached Tri-West’s 2014 team to a 14-1 record and a 49-27 win against Andrean in the Class 3A title game.
His track record on and off the field has earned praise from the man he grew up playing for.
“I’m not his dad,” Gillin said of Coll, “but I’m proud of him like he was my son, honestly. He’s got all the qualities you want. He’s got some qualities that I wish I had.”
Pretty strong words from a guy with 305 career wins to his credit.
Though he’s been a lifelong Tri-West guy, Coll might be a familiar name to some Johnson County football fans — he played his college ball for the Grizzlies in the late 1980s, earning team MVP honors in 1989 while playing for Mike McClure, who is now an assistant athletics director at Franklin Community High School.
While at Franklin College, Coll also was a member of the varsity basketball team for two years.
His connections to Johnson County were about the only thing that could have lured him away from his previous job.
“It was a job that I always just kind of kept my eye on,” Coll said of Franklin. “I’ve never really planned or looked to leave Tri-West; this is my home, where I grew up. My family, my wife’s family’s here and everything. It was just a situation down there where the timing was never quite right; it’s been open before and I didn’t apply. This time, it just seemed like the right time.”
Coll will make the move to Johnson County over the holidays and begin working in Franklin’s physical education department in January. He’s eager to build upon the foundation that was laid by Reese, both in terms of off-the-field expectations and at the youth levels — and his peers and mentors have no doubt that he’ll be able to steer the Grizzly Cubs in the right direction on the field.
“I think Franklin’s really got a great hire,” Gillin said. “They’ve got to be patient, of course, because it’s going to take a little time for him, but I’m excited about him getting that opportunity.”
Coll is hopeful to perhaps have a chance to face his former coach now that he’s planting roots in Johnson County. The two had hoped to maybe meet in the Class 3A playoffs while Coll was at Tri-West, and neither Gillin nor Coll is taking a possible Franklin-Indian Creek meeting off the table.
“I don’t know if I would want to do that regular,” Coll said, “but I would love to play Coach Gillin just one time maybe, just to be able to say that we’ve shared that moment, because he has been such a huge part of my life.
“I would like to play him one time just to check that off the list.”
Athletics directors, take note.
