By Eric Stock

NORMAL – New Normal Community football coach Jason Drengwitz knows all about the program’s success, having served on the staff for the last 14 years.

Normal Community High School named Drengwitz to the post on Monday, replacing Wes Temples who resigned in December after 10 seasons as Ironmen head coach.

Drengwitz said he’s excited about the opportunity to take over such a successful program.

PODCAST: Listen to WJBC’s interview with Drengwitz.

“I’m proud, humbled, honored to be thought of highly enough to be named the head coach at a program with so much tradition and history of great teams, great coaches, coaching staff and players,” Drengwitz said. “So it’s really an exciting time for me and my family.”

Drengwitz said he embraces the pressure that comes with taking over such a successful program.

“(We’ll) try to raise the level of expectations that our coaches have, our players have, our fans have by achieving new levels of success, on the field, in the classroom, in the community,” Drengwitz said. “I just want to try to take it to the next level.”

The Ironmen posted an 83-25 record under Temples and have advanced to the IHSA football players 22 consecutive seasons, one of the longest runs in Illinois.

Drengwitz is a business teacher at NCHS. He worked at State Farm for six years before going back into teaching. He had previously served on Mick Peterson’s coaching staff at Pontiac High School.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].