North Central College Cardinals

The arrival of John Thorne as North Central College’s head football coach prior to the 2002 season signaled perhaps the most pivotal moment in the program’s history, ushering in an era of unmatched prosperity and cementing the Cardinals as a perennial national contender at the NCAA Division III level.

In his 13 seasons in charge of the program, North Central amassed 118 victories, eight straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championships from 2006 to 2013, and eight appearances inthe NCAA Division III Football Championship. A total of 17 Cardinal players earned All-America honors,while 43 received All-Region accolades and 59 claimed First Team All-CCIW awards.

For Thorne, the victories, championships, postseason appearances, individual accolades and statistical records that have taken place in the years since all remain special, but his greatest joy comes fromseeing how a philosophy he brought with him from his distinguished career as a high school coach,focusing on the well-rounded development of young men within the sport, has enriched the lives ofplayers, coaches and families.

“For many years (at the high school level), when the recruiters would come through, I’d always handthem a sheet of paper. On the front side of it was our philosophy statement, and on the back side wasthe information about the athletes we thought they might want to learn more about. Several of themliked the philosophy statement, but there were also several who said it would never work in college.”

Thorne began instituting that philosophy soon after his hiring at North Central in January 2002, bringing with him his son and longtime offensive coordinator Jeff Thorne, who composed and implemented the Cardinals’ scheme on that side of the ball while the elder Thorne focused on the big picture.

“That was always the magic of the whole program,” John Thorne said. “That allowed me to focus on howto get the program going in the right direction and how to get all the different missing pieces put together outside of football itself. In 13 years as a head coach, I think I called two offensive plays.”

A 6-4 record in Thorne’s first season as head coach represented the Cardinals’ highest single-season wintotal in 15 years, and proved to be but a prelude of things to come. North Central improved to a 7-3record in 2003, tying the school record for victories at the time, but Thorne saw a more important shift taking place behind the scenes.

“That year, Brad Spencer ‘04, Ryan Buck ‘04, Wil Braga ‘04, Jeff Wink ’04 and Nick Schaefer ’04 were the five captains,” he said. “For some reason, they totally loved the philosophy statement and bought in.They saw a lot of guys who didn’t, and they really took it upon themselves to be enforcers of it. I don’tknow how they went about it, but every single week, more and more guys started to buy in.

“That philosophy can help so many people. It can help coaches and families as well as players, and that’s been the real excitement of watching it work.”

With a full-hearted commitment to success permeating the roster, the Cardinals continued to see their fortunes improve on the football field, posting the program’s first nine-win season and qualifying for the Division III postseason for the first time in 2005, then winning the program’s first CCIW title in more than 40 years and securing its first playoff victory in 2006. A record 11-win season was achieved in 2008, followed by a 12-win campaign in 2010 and a 13-win season which saw the Cardinals advance to theirfirst-ever national semifinal contest in 2013.

In addition to competitive success, North Central saw football players achieve 14 Academic All-Americaand All-District accolades during Thorne’s tenure, and had three players qualify as finalists for theGagliardi Trophy, the premier individual award in Division III which encompasses the areas of athletics,academics and community service.

“After testing our philosophy at the college level, it turns out it works even better with college students than it did with high-school students,” Thorne said. “All we’ve wanted to do is try and support the thingsthat parents are hopefully teaching their kids anyway. We just want to help them through these fouryears, where they have some fun and grow to be good young men.”