Coach Lonnie Pries

Lonnie Pries begins his fourth season as head coach for the Concordia Cougar football team.

Pries is one of four men (Gene Burger, Norb Engebrecht, Jim Braun) that have been associated with Concordia Cougar football as both a player and a head coach. Pries was a defensive lineman for the Cougars from 1989 to 1992, earning multiple honors including conference Defensive Lineman of the Year and honorable mention Champion All-American, both in 1992. He was also a second-team national CoSIDA Academic All-American that same year, one of six in Concordia's history to earn national honors.

Pries' first three years as head coach have been marked by steady growth in team performance and size. Prior to Pries' return, the Cougars had endured winless seasons in 2004 and 2005. Pries' first game at the helm resulted in a win over Blackburn, and the Cougars later added a win over Eureka. The next two seasons resulted in three wins each, with last year's highlight being a last-second win over Lakeland College that marked Concordia's first Homecoming victory since 1997. The 2008 Cougars also posted offensive numbers that were the highest they had been since the mid-1980s.

Roster size has shown a substantial increase during Pries' tenure. From the beginning, Pries and his staff worked tirelessly to build upon a roster that had shrunk to below 60 players. Pries' first squad in 2006 came in at around 70 players, and the gradual climb continued through the next few years. This year's team will feature an Opening Day roster of 94 players, a new school record.

For Pries, however, success is not defined by just the number of wins or the number of players to don a uniform. Pries is a proponent of the "overall college experience" for his players, a belief that a student-athlete should demonstrate growth in four areas - football, academics, spiritual life, and campus/community involvement - and not necessarily in that order.

"When we talk to high school players, we share the excitement that we have about what's going on with our program, because we believe that good things are happening and that they have an opportunity to play a big part in that," states Pries. "At the same time, we really try to stress how all four parts of our philosophy come together, and that we expect much more of them than just being a football player. I feel that I'm very blessed in having assistant coaches and a strong network of football alumni that personify the traits we are looking for and can share what they experienced."

Pries' philosophy was put in place through a combined 13 years of coaching at St. John Lutheran High School in Ocala, Florida and Milwaukee Lutheran High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At both locations, he was given the responsibility of rebuilding the school's football program and, while at Milwaukee Lutheran, he led the Red Knights to their first playoff game in the school's history in 2002. His MLHS team in 2005 went 7-3 and made a second playoff appearance, and Pries was recognized by his peers as the North Shore Conference Coach of the Year.

Pries, a native of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, earned his B.A. in secondary education/English from Concordia and his M.S. in education-counseling from Concordia University Wisconsin in 2001. He and his wife, Jennie (Nielsen, '93) are the parents of Kaylie, Aliyah and Layne.

Contact Information:
E-mail - lonnie.pries@cuchicago.edu
708-209-3001 (Office)
708-209-3154 (Fax)