Boys to Men

Mount Carmel's Lenti makes the grade on and off the field.
by: Stan Goff
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Football's great, but it's not everything. Not all coaches would agree with that statement, especially not those who have won close to 90 percent of their games.

But Mount Carmel head coach Frank Lenti is not like most coaches. Lenti has won at the all-male Catholic high school on Chicago's south side at an amazing rate. So you might expect him to talk at length about NFL players like Simeon Rice and Donovan McNabb, who prepped under his tutelage at Mount Carmel. Or maybe brag about his six state championships in the past 15 years and how his coaching record grew to more than 150 games over .500 with a 4-1 start this fall.

But at Mount Carmel, a school that has also dominated high school wrestling in Illinois, there are clearly more important things than sports.

"We start with—first and foremost—developing our kids into being good people," says Lenti, who turned 48 in September. "One, we want to develop a good person. Two, we want a good student. And three, good athletes. It's got to be in that order. If you're not one and two, it's tough to be three."

This philosophy pays off for everyone involved. These young athletes grow into responsible individuals who learn on and off the field. Who Lenti and his staff get are smart, loyal football players willing to listen and eager to learn.

"Most people, when you have that kind of success, try to label you as a jock school," Lenti says. "I'm always quick to point out that dumb kids don't make good football players. They make mistakes."

Before bringing up the 49 players who have gone on to play football at Division I programs and the 100 or so others who moved on to play at smaller schools, Lenti boasts of his former players who went on to excel at top-notch academic institutions.

"We've had a number of kids go to the University of Chicago, to the Air Force, and we even had a Yale captain," says Lenti, a 1969 Mount Carmel grad. "Two years ago we had four kids play together at Princeton and another one at Harvard. You don't get into those schools just because you play football."

An added bonus is that most of the Caravan's players learn to improve on the field at the same time they're improving in the classroom. "We don't have to worry very often about ineligibility," Lenti says. "We have a weekly grade check. If you're not on top of your academics, you're not going to get much of an opportunity (in sports)."

By now we understand that Lenti has pretty good kids to work with. Is that all it takes to compile a 176-25 mark halfway through this, his 16th year as head coach at Mount Carmel? No. It must be the brilliant head coaching given to the Caravan players.

"I always tell people it's good kids," Lenti says modestly. "They can overcome the coaching. But, actually, it's a combination of good kids, good parents and a great staff. The kids come and go, but the staff has stayed the same over the years."

Lenti's staff includes former high school head coaches, coaches with collegiate coaching experience and his youngest brother, Dave, a Mount Carmel grad who serves as the team's defensive coordinator.

So the experience and knowledge on board is much greater than most high school staffs. And it doesn't hurt to have a family member around who can get through to the legendary head man when the situation merits. "At times he might say things that the other members don't want to," Lenti says of his brother. "You know, when family speaks, you listen. When people want an immediate answer, they'll send David in to ask me."

It's those strong family ties that have helped keep Lenti at Mount Carmel. And it looks like those same ties will keep him around at least a few more years.

Over the years, other high schools and colleges have expressed interest in Lenti's services—including former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. But Lenti has never had aspirations to be any place other than his alma mater. "We've had opportunities to look at other schools," he says. "But I went to school here, you know. You're not only talking the talk, but you're walking the walk. We have great kids, great coaches, a great administration and a very supportive faculty. All those things people say about the grass being greener—people can make all kinds of promises."

But a chance to coach with Holtz? How could you pass on that? "In 1989 and 1990 I talked to Holtz," Lenti explains. "He said, 'We have a defensive backs job, and it's yours if you want it.' But college coaches spend so much time on the road. My wife and I didn't have kids so someone else could raise them."

Lenti is married to the former Kim Klausner, who had three brothers play football and hockey at Mount Carmel. She was an all-state volleyball player in high school and an All-Big Ten player at the University of Illinois. She has always been supportive of Lenti's dedication to his job and his kids—the ones at the school, and the two children they have, Frank and Lauren. "It's so important for me," Lenti says of his wife's background in and love of sports. "She knows the commitment it takes to coach, to give the kids quality time."

Now the couple has a chance to watch their son play football for the Caravan, although they didn't push the Mount Carmel freshman into the sport. Actually, they did the opposite. "We would not even let him play football until the seventh grade," Lenti says. "We didn't want him to play just because Dad's a coach. We waited to make sure he liked it. He loves it, And it's fun to watch him around the school."

That's why nobody should expect Lenti to be going anywhere but to Mount Carmel six days a week during the football season for at least the next few years. And that's good news for Caravan fans.

Lenti's teams have had their share of superstars, with Rice, McNabb and Atlanta Falcons wideout Chris Calloway—just to name a few. And these days Mount Carmel players carry a target on their chest as the team everyone wants to knock off. But that's much easier said than done.

Even when Lenti's squads are the underdogs, they find ways to come up big in the crunch. Lenti won't single out any one game or team as the best in his tenure, but he does get a kick out of talking about the undefeated 1988 Class 6A champions that came away with one of the more improbable and exciting titles ever.

That squad opened the postseason with a pair of wins, then faced three consecutive unbeaten powerhouses en route to claiming its second state title under Lenti. A John Elway-like drive was needed to pull out a 13-12 defeat of Homewood-Flossmoor in a torrential downpour in the quarterfinals, keeping the Caravan's season alive. "We've had some tremendous wins," he recalls. "In 1988 we won the state title at 14-0, and we had to beat 11-0, 12-0 and 13-0 teams to do it. We were the underdogs in each of those games."

In the Homewood-Flossmoor game, Mount Carmel fell behind 12-0 at the half then closed the gap to 12-7. "That's one game that stands out in Mount Carmel lore," Lenti says. "It was 12-7, it was a terrible night, and we were 93 yards away with three-and-a-half minutes left. I called a timeout and I said, 'Hey guys, isn't this great? This is why you play football at Mount Carmel. For moments like this.'"

On the game's final play, quarterback Dan Miller threw a touchdown pass to tight end Mark Norville to lift the Caravan to a 13-12 victory.

Wins over previously unbeaten St. Rita and East St. Louis would follow as Mount Carmel grabbed the state crown and finished the year ranked No. 6 nationally by USA Today. It had been East St. Louis that ended the Caravan's dreams of a state title the previous season, making the finale even sweeter.

This year, Mount Carmel started the season again ranked nationally but opened with a rare loss before rattling off four straight wins. The Caravan faithful aren't too worried, though. In 1991, the school dropped its first two games before winning 12 straight en route to caputring the school's fourth straight state title.

With such a great coaching resume, one might think that Lenti grew up on football. But the skipper didn't even play the sport as a prep. (Although Lenti did letter two years in football at Loyola (Ill.) University.) He was too busy captaining the Mount Carmel baseball team. But even at an early age Lenti was involved in coaching football.

"I coached football in grammar school," he says. "Baseball was really my forte but at the grammar school they needed some coaches, and before I knew it I was coaching two of my younger brothers on the grammar school team.

"I'm 48, but I joke with people that I've coached in four decades."

And a fifth decade is just around the corner. One that will include a chance to coach his son. The close-knit Lenti family will have plenty of supporters close by when that day arrives. Lenti's brothers and sisters have also stayed in the Chicago area over the years. He is tight with his three brothers and two sisters— much the way Mount Carmel's football family is.

His brother Mike played professional baseball for four years in the Pirates and Giants organizations. He is currently director of facilities at DePaul University. His brother Eugene is the womens softball coach at DePaul and is coming off a very successful campaign in which the Lady Blue Demons were among the nation's best. His sister Jean is associate athletic director at DePaul and is married to former DePaul basketball star Joe Ponsetto. Finally, sister Marilyn is married to Mount Carmel grad Kevin Jouce; their daughter, of course, was a cheerleader for the Caravan.

"That's a big part of it for all of us," Lenti says. "My sister and brothers have had opportunities to leave DePaul. We like being close. We've had a tradition for a number of years where we take turns with various holidays at each others' houses. That means Fourth of July at my house."

And, chances are, football will be discussed at the gathering. But football isn't everything.

"I get about one or two weeks off a year," says Lenti.

The football season makes for a lot of long days. Lenti also teaches a college literature class to seniors. "I'm not as a dumb as I look," he jokes.

But a lot of things make it all worthwhile—and not just the wins, awards and state titles. Lenti was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame this year, was named Illinois Coach of the Century by the Chicago Tribune, and was named 1998 NIKE USA High School Coach of the Year.

"The Donovan McNabbs and Simeon Rices...we're fortunate they come here and are coachable kids," he explains. "But the number of kids who will be professional athletes is minute. It's important for us to teach our kids to be responsible adults. We teach character for a lifetime."

Five of the current sophomore coaches at Mount Carmel played for the Caravan. Two of the varsity assistants and another coaching the freshman played for Lenti.

"Obviously we must be treating people well," Lenti says. "People notice. When a lot of kids come back for Easter, summer or whenever, they don't just walk up and shake our hand. They give you a hug.

"We have an old saying at the school: 'You came to Carmel as a boy. If you care to struggle and work at it, you leave as a man.'"

A lot of men have been lucky enough to play for Lenti.

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