Bob Otolski

Robert "Bob" Otolski was the 17th head football coach for the Illinois State Redbirds in Normal, Illinois and he held that position for seven seasons, from 1981 until 1987. His overall coaching record at ISU was 30 wins, 41 losses, and 3 ties. This ranks him sixth at ISU in terms of total wins and 13th at ISU in terms of winning percentage. ^[1]

Playing career

Otolski attended Washington High School in South Bend, Indiana. There he was a standout member of the football team playing both offense and defense. He was an instrumental part of the 1953 State Championship team. After he graduated in 1955, he accepted a scholarship to play football at the University of Indianapolis. While there he lettered 3 times for the Greyhounds, playing offense, defense and special teams. In 1951 he led team in pass receptions and receiving yards as well as leading the conference in punting while being named 2nd Team All-conference in 1957. In 1958 he led the conference in quarterback sacks, and again in punting and named 2nd Team All-Conference. He also was a member of the Indianapolis golf team, which won two conference titles while he was there.^[2]

Coaching career

Otolski began coaching football in 1961 at St. Joseph's High School in his hometown of South Bend, where he was the Head Coach of the junior varsity team. In 1964 he became the athletics director at Marian High School in Mishawaka, Indiana. In 1966 he started the school's first ever football team leading them to a 6-6 record. In 1971 he was named the Indiana High School Coach of the Year. He went on to coach till 1972, compiling a 59-10-1 record leading the team to 3 undefeated seasons. He also won 4 Northern Indiana Valley Conference titles.^[3] After the 1972 season, he joined the Indiana University football staff, where he worked 7 seasons as an assistant to Lee Corso. During his time at Indiana, they went on to win the first bowl game in school history, the 1979 Holiday Bowl. In 1981 he was hired as the head football coach at Illinois State University. He went on to be the coach til 1987 and complied a 30-41-3 record.

Honors

In 2000, he was inducted into the Marian Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was inducted into the University of Indianapolis Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2002, Marian named their football field, "Bob Otolski Field" after Bob.^[4]

References

External links