Lutheran names former Lutheran assistant Jeff Luedke as new football head coach

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - For new Lutheran Football Head Coach Jeff Luedke, he wants to bring a new spark to Crusader football.

“For us guys that have been around a long time, energy is super important because if you don’t have energy, it isn’t going to work,” Luedke said.

The new head coach is stepping into a program he has a lot of familiarity with.

“I’ve been there since the year 2000, I’ve been coaching there on the offensive and defensive side through the year 2016 so I’ve seen the good and bad,” Luedke said.

He’s also looking to revamp both sides of the ball.

“We are changing everything, we always- and what I keep on going back to as we’re Bruce Bazsali disciples, we run the spread, we run a three-front defense, so we’re going to do everything different, nothing’s going to be the same as it was last year,” Luedke said.

Bazsali was the last head coach to take Lutheran to the playoffs with five straight appearances from 2012 to 2016.

For the time being, Luedke is excited to get started.

“We’ve been watching North Boone tapes a lot, that’s our first game...we’re excited June 5 because we have our 25 contact days, that’s when we’re excited then, that’s when we’re all going to start,” Luedke said.

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