John Wrenn

Suggs reflects on Mentors Influnce (Jan 19, 2011/Yahoo)   John Wrenn enters his second year as Assistant Athletics Director of Football Operations and High School Relations under head coach Todd Graham. Wrenn served as running backs coach and assistant special teams coach in 2006 for former head coach Dirk Koetter. Wrenn compiled an impressive 223-46 won-loss record in 23 years of high school coaching, both at Hamilton High School and in the state of Illinois. He earned state Coach-of-the-Year accolades five times, three times in Arizona (1999, 2003 and 2004) and twice in Illinois. He has earned regional Coach-of-the-Year honors 15 times and was Chicago-area Coach-of-the-Year on four occasions. Wrenn’s teams competed in the state playoffs 19 times, winning three state championships. His squads were runners-up twice, semi-finalists three times and quarter-finalists four times. Wrenn won 16 Conference/Region Championships. At Hamilton High, Wrenn’s team posted a 91-11 eight-year record and won two state championships. Twice more his teams made it to the state championship game. His Hamilton resume also includes one state semi-finalist team and two quarter-finalist teams. Hamilton won the region championships five times (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005). At Perry High, Wrenn provided overall leadership, supervision and coordination of all sports programs. As Athletic Director at Hamilton High, Wrenn hired all coaches, helped develop all athletic facilities and supervised all athletic-related activities. He also served as the Department Head for Physical Education. Wrenn’s state of Illinois career included a 10-year stint as head football coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois. His teams there compiled a 99-18 record, including one state championship, nine conference championships, nine state playoff appearances, two state semi-finalists and two quarter-finalists. Wrenn also served as the Assistant Athletic Director at Homewood-Flossmoor in 1995-96. In 1985-86, Wrenn was the wide receivers coach under Mike White at the University of Illinois. The Fighting Illini ranked in the nation’s top 10 in passing that year and played in the 1985 Peach Bowl. From 1982-84, Wrenn was the head football coach at West Aurora High School in Aurora, Ill. There, his teams posted a two-year record of 18-11 and won two conference championships and two state playoff berths. Before a one-year stint at a private company in 1981-82, Wrenn was the head football coach at East Aurora High School for two seasons (1979-81) and posted a 14-5 record, one conference championship and one state playoff appearance. From 1977-79, Wrenn was an assistant football coach at West Aurora High and served in the same capacity between 1974-77 at Elgin Larkin High School in Elgin, Illinois. As a player Wrenn was the Most Valuable Player for Western Illinois University in 1972. He lettered there between 1970 and 1973, captaining the teams in 1971 and 1972. He was a Division II All-American and still holds the school career interceptions record with 18. He is a member of the Western Illinois athletic Hall of Fame and was a Blue Key National Honor Society member.