Retired IWU coach Norm Eash says relationships and “tough love” have kept him going all these years

Norm Eash said he shared with his family last Christmas that 2024 would be his last season. Illinois Wesleyan University football coach.

The Chenoa native and IWU alumnus said he wants to come out with one of the largest classes in program history (34 seniors).

Eash said he was forced to make the announcement publicly at the right time, considering making the announcement before the start of the season, but later thought it was a bad idea.

“It’s been all about me all season long and I didn’t want that,” Eash said. WGLT’s Sound Ideas.

He also considered announcing it during homecoming weekend but said it would distract the team. So he settled on the week before the final match.

Eash, the winningest coach in IWU history and the Illinois and Wisconsin College Conference,He gave information to his players on Sunday He said this Saturday’s home game against North Central will be his last.

Eash said it was an ideal time because two people who were instrumental in him getting the job at IWU, including Sikma, were on campus for the Jack Sikma Hall of Fame basketball induction.

Eash said Basketball Hall of Famer Sikma was the fraternity brother who convinced IWU athletic director Dennie Bridges to recruit him in 1986 despite having no college coaching experience.

“One of the reasons he took a chance on me was because he had someone in his ear and his name was Jack Sikma,” Eash recalled.

Thirty-eight years later, Eash leaves as the longest-tenured head football coach at a college football school. He said he stayed this long because of his passion for his job and the university.

“This has been my dream and goal to return to Illinois Wesleyan,” he said.

Eash, a 1975 IWU graduate, succeeds Don “Swede” Larson, who served in the role for 33 years.

Each said they developed the “tough love” coaching style they adopted after Larson and others he played with at IWU. He said coaching him is less about Xs and Os and more about mentoring young men, developing relationships with them and holding them accountable.

“That’s why you stay,” he said, acknowledging that age also becomes a factor. He turned 71 in September.

“The slower I get, the more tired I get,” Eash said in an interview at IWU’s Ames Library. “It’s a physical grind. You have to be in good shape, and I guess I am, but it’s time for someone younger to take over.”

changing times

Eash said a lot has changed about student-athletes in his nearly four decades as a coach.

He said the football program recently began issuing formal offers to new recruits, a trend that is becoming more common even among Division III schools that do not have scholarships.

“At first I thought it was ridiculous,” Eash said. he said. “I actually struggled with it and said, ‘We’re not going to do that.’ This is what we have to offer as part of our football family. We have nothing to offer…no money or anything. But everyone was doing it and eventually my young assistant coaches said: ‘Coach, if If you don’t we will lose the children (to other schools).’

Eash also said he was uncomfortable with recruits taking photos with Wesleyan jerseys for social media, but he gave up on that as well.

“I’ve improved a little bit and you need to change your ways,” he said, adding that he now texts new hires instead of calling them as he has done for many years.

Eash said IWU president Sheahon Zenger offered him a role related to alumni and legacy building. He said this will be a full-time role for the remainder of the school year, but nothing beyond that is known. And he’s not sure where he’ll be on the first Saturday of September 2025, when next season begins.

When asked what he missed, he said “everything.”

“Coaches sometimes complain about the grind, but I think you’re going to miss the grind,” Eash said.