Elliot Uzelac (Official Thread)

[osugrad21]

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HERE'S TO U: Coach Uzelac's steering St. Joseph's undefeated football team straight to a state title

Coach Uzelac has a remarkable past, but his current situation isn't too shabby, either.

October 26, 2007
BY MICK McCABE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
ST. JOSEPH -- It was the spring of Ethan Schweir's sophomore year and St. Joseph had just hired a varsity football coach named Elliot Uzelac.
Schweir had never heard of Uzelac, but did his due diligence to learn about the man who would be coaching him for the next two years.

"I looked him up on the Internet," said Schweir, now a senior. "I figured he must know what he's doing because he's been around." Uzelac, 66, has been around all right. He has been around the block and back. Several times.



Cont...

 

[ScriptOhio]

What Benton Harbor Needed Was Elliot Uzelac

Elliot Uzelac took over this moribund football program at a struggling school in a worse-off town with clear goals. The boys would pass their classes. They would commit their weekday afternoons to practice. And they would make the playoffs. He even wrote that word—playoffs—on a chalkboard during his first team meeting, underlining it three times for emphasis. Never mind the fact this team had won four games in eight years.

Entire article: http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/02/...school-michigan-high-school-football-playoffs

For anyone that doesn't remember Elliot Uzelac he was an assistant coach under John Cooper. In 1991 he got in an "issue' with Robert Smith. Among other accusations, he supposedly told Smith to cut class to come to football practice. Smith ended up quitting the football team in 1991 saying he was here for his education, i.e. to get a degree and get into medical school, etc. He was given a track scholarship for 1991 and reinstated on the football team in 1992 after Uzelac was no longer coaching at Ohio State. Smith then played football again for Ohio State in 1992; however, even though he was there for his education he left early for the NFL. He never did get into medical school. I'm not sure if Smith ever did graduate: however, he currently works as an analyst for ESPN.

http://www.si.com/vault/1991/09/09/...g-his-coaches-of-hindering-his-premed-studies

http://articles.philly.com/1991-09-10/sports/25803083_1_elliot-uzelac-robert-smith-football-program

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-10-27/sports/sp-855_1_ohio-state