Lacrosse loses out to football
UW finds quarterback recruit in unlikely place
MADISON - Jack Coan grew up with a lacrosse stick in one hand and a football in the other.
“Long Island is kind of a hotbed for lacrosse,” Coan, in the midst of his first semester at Wisconsin, said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of kids out there going D1 and going to great places.”
Coan, from Sayville, N.Y., knew Long Island wasn’t a hotbed for Division I football players.
“You really don’t see too many football players coming off the island,” said Coan, a record-setting quarterback at Sayville High School.
After committing to play lacrosse at Notre Dame during his freshman year of high school, Coan figured football wasn’t an op-
tion.
But thanks to the tireless efforts of his high school coach, Rob Hoss, major football programs began studying Coan’s game.
“He worked his butt off,” Coan said. “He was just asking coaches just to take a look at my film. It was hard at first. Because coaches (said): ‘We really don’t recruit there.’ ”
UW found Coan and offered him a scholarship. So did Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia and others.
When Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh offered a scholarship, Coan’s high school buddies thought it was a done deal.
“Once they offered me, everyone at my school and around me
kind of went crazy — Jack’s got to go to Michigan,” he said. “It was a great school and I really enjoyed my visit there. But when I came here, I just felt like this is the place.”
When Coan chose UW instead of Michigan, his friends asked why he wanted to go play football in the middle of a cornfield.
“From where I am, not a lot of people know about Wisconsin,” he joked. “I didn’t even know a lot about Wisconsin.”
Though Coan is an early enrollee at UW and had already signed to play for the Badgers, he was introduced in Madison on Wednesday along with 18 other scholarship recruits and 10 walk-ons on national college football signing day.
Coan, 6 foot 3 and 200 pounds, set Long Island all-time records for passing yards (9,787) and touchdown passes (128). He also rushed for 2,551
yards (6.5-yard average) and 33 touchdowns. He was a three-time, firstteam all-state pick and as a senior was named New York’s Gatorade player of the year.
He was able, thanks to a friend, to work with former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms.
“You don’t really care if it is a place that has had a lot or hasn’t had many,” UW coach Paul Chryst said, referring to Division I prospects on Long Island. “You just want to go find the right (player), and I feel really confident about Jack being the right fit. And it is good to have him here now . ...
“You get to spend time at maybe a slower pace teaching him the offense. And he’ll get the opportunity to get the 15 practices."
Coan believes enrolling early at UW, which will allow him to participate in spring practice, will be invaluable.
Remember that Joel
Stave enrolled early and eventually won the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2012. Alex Hornibrook enrolled early and won the starting job for the Big Ten opener last season. Kare’ Lyles, who will be a redshirt freshman in 2017, enrolled early as well.
“I miss home, but this is just such a new experience,” Coan said. “It gives you a head start on everything, not only in academics, but in football, too. It is a great option . ...
“The opportunity is up to me. I’m just going to have to come in here and work hard. Everyone’s got an equal opportunity to play. It doesn’t matter if you started last year or not.” His goal for 2017? “I would say my goal is to win a national championship,” Coan said. “Whether that is starting, which obviously I hope to be starting, or whether that is being a great teammate.”