Coach Lonnie Pries

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

Pries assumed the position of head coach on January 6, 2006 and immediately set about reversing the fortunes of a Cougar program that had lost 20 consecutive games and 38 of their previous 40. After assembling his coaching staff, Pries brought in a sizeable first recruiting class that helped to put the Cougars' Opening Day roster at 68. The team charged out to a strong start by winning their first contest of 2006, a 13-3 win over Blackburn. Concordia added a second home win four weeks later against Eureka, and the Cougars continued an exciting stretch of play by putting up 102 points in their games against Eureka, MacMurray and Concordia Wisconsin. The team's improved play during the season helped restore pride throughout the campus community, but Pries does not take the credit for the positive strides made.

"We knew that there would be several ups and downs throughout the year," explains Pries. "But I knew that God would use our struggles to accomplish things and lead this program in the direction it was meant to go. from the very beginning, I stressed that we need to keep God first because, when He Is involved, things will exceed our expectations. I see His hand in everything that has happened to this point, and we will look to continue in that same way as we enter this new season."

Pries graduated Concordia in 1993 following a stellar four-year career as a defensive lineman. He received recognition from the beginning in being named the Cougars' Outstanding Freshman Player of the Year in 1989. Pries would go on to amass 192 solo and 256 assisted tackles over his career and cement his reputation as an impact player with marks of 14 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries and 36 pass break-ups. He was bestowed second-team all-conference honors in his first three years before earning the Illini-Badger Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year in his senior season of 1992. That same year, Pries was named an Honorable Mention All-American by Champion and a second-team national Academic All-American by CoSIDA, the latter making him just one of five Cougar athletes of all time to earn national recognition by that organization.

Prior to his return to Concordia, Pries coached and taught for a combined 13 years at St. John Lutheran High School in Ocala, Florida and Milwaukee Lutheran High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was given the responsibility at both locations 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)