STEVE HANLON: A Marine never quits when things are down

CALUMET TWP. | It seems, maybe just maybe, that "Ivan the Terrible" isn't so bad after all.

In Friday night's 6-0 white-knuckle loss against Bishop Noll, you could see the never-say-die guts of Zimmer in his players. Just watch quarterback Nate Fowler run the ball. Or running back Justin Perez run the ball. Or the tackling of defensive lineman Davonte Piggee as he's going after a ball carrier.

Head down. Tough. With an attitude that screams, "We don't care what anyone thinks of us, we're going to punch you in the mouth anyway."

"All you can ask from your kids is to have them give you a chance to win at the end," Zimmer said. "We had that. With four seconds left on their 6-yard line I know every one of our kids believed we were going to win the game. It just didn't happen tonight. Those things happen."

Zimmer played for top-ranked Bishop Noll in 1963 before graduating the following spring. He played in an Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl at Nebraska, where former coach Tom Osborne first brought up the idea of coaching football. A 10-year stint as a Marine pilot kept Zimmer off the gridiron.

"I told coach Osborne I was in pre-law and he asked me why," Zimmer said. "I told him because I liked to argue and I wanted to make a lot of money."

Osborne's encouragement caused Zimmer to stop watching Perry Mason. In 1979 he became an assistant coach at Lake Central, where he stayed for three years. Then, it was off to Andrean.

"I had wonderful kids and wonderful parents, it was a wonderful part of my life," Zimmer said of 5959 Broadway Ave.

In 1989 Andrean won the sectional and lost to Hobart 14-7 in the regional. The Brickies went on to win state. The next year it was a 14-13 loss to Hobart, which again went on to state.

"I always felt the state championship was up here, not in Indianapolis," Zimmer said.

After the 1995 season Zimmer was fired. He ended up at Calumet. That was like losing a winning lottery ticket. Twice.

From 1987 through 1995, no Warriors team won more than two games. And in Zimmer's first year on Ridge Road, he went winless and got spanked by Andrean in the first round of the sectional. Then, Andrean went on to state four times.

"That hurt," Zimmer said. "When they let me go we knew that we had a state championship team there. We just didn't have time to finish the job."

Two winless seasons at Calumet were followed by a breakout year in 1999 when the Warriors went 8-2. It was the Warriors' first winning season since 1978.

"I had to get rid of a culture of losing," Zimmer said. "It ran real deep."

Yet, five years later Zimmer was fired again. Instead of taking this one lying down, he fought through the union, getting his position back as an assistant coach. Nick Stoming lasted one year and Jeff Bean took over in 2006. But budget cuts cost Bean a teaching position and Zimmer was back in charge.

On the backs of two outstanding players last year -- Darcell Ballentine and George Ezell -- the Warriors went 7-3. With Friday night's loss, the Warriors are now 4-2. Another winning season is just two wins away. Since football began at Calumet in 1956, the Warriors had two wins or less 27 times, with only nine winning seasons.

Zimmer has had three winning campaigns with a fourth on the way.

Maybe, just maybe, "Ivan the Terrible" is a pretty good football coach.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at steve.hanlon@nwi.com.