Hartman Brings Heart as New Evergreen Park Football Coach

Though he's green to Dan Hartman intends to build a winning football team, after District 231 hired him as head coach late last month.

Hartman, 27, takes the reigns of a steadfast program from Mike Barry, who recently accepted the head coach position at Hinsdale South High School. The Mustangs, highlighted by 1,000-yard-rusher Vincent Baker, will hit the field this season after finishing 5-4 in 2010.

“Evergreen Park seems like a great community,” Hartman said. “I'm really excited with the group of [players] we have coming back. It seems like we'll be able to come in right away and build a winning program....”

A graduate of East Central High School in Guliford, Ind., Hartman said football wasn't the first sport he took an interest in.

“I was a basketball player growing up,” he continued, “and I didn't start playing football until sophomore year in high school. A couple of coaches talked me into coming out, and that's how I got started.”

After high school, Hartman attended Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., where he started his coaching career as a wide-receiver coach while student teaching.

“I think I have a pretty well-rounded background,” he said, “coaching in a small-school setting as well as a large-school setting.”

Shortly after graduating from college, he took a position as an offensive coordinator at Cascade High School in Clayton, Ind., followed by two years as a defensive coordinator at Crown Point High School, also in Indiana.

“I think coaching for me is all about working with young people,” he reflected, “and teaching them life lessons and how to compete on a daily basis.”

On and Off the Field

The Mustang playbook, Hartman said, will use a spread-offense approach this year, developed when Barry was head coach.

“We'll use three-or-four wide receivers to try and spread out the defense,” he illustrated, “and basically take advantage...by getting the ball to our most athletic players.”

Unlike Barry, though, Hartman plans on having his team huddle more often this season. Moreover, safety will still play an important role in EPCHS football.

“As a society, I think we flip on [the TV] and we see guys making hits that are fundamentally wrong,” he said. “They could injure themselves or their opponent by not using proper technique.”

To sum up Hartmans ethics on the field: “Teaching kids proper techniques is the biggest thing, not celebrating big helmet-to-helmet hits that you see on sports center.”

As for his playbook off the field, Hartman said he'll teach social studies at EPCHS, “with a passion for his content area.”

“I think being a football coach and being a teacher are very similar,” he added. “You have to get young people to learn material they're not used to and get them to perform...you do that by teaching them step by step, fundamentals.”