Lincoln hired Aaron Fricke to be its next football coach on Monday, Dec. 15.
The Illinois High School Association incidentally voted to expand the playoffs to 384 teams on the same day — more specifically, 16 additional teams per class.
The 2006 Lincoln graduate went 35-37 over eight seasons at Warrensburg-Latham after assuming the helm in 2018. He led the Cardinals to two playoff appearances, not including a combined 8-7 record over the 2021 spring and fall seasons.
“I actually never expected it to happen,” Fricke said, reflecting on his coaching career. “When I played there, I loved it. That place gave so much to me. I feel like it’s my duty to give back to Lincoln for everything they did for me.”
Fricke previously played quarterback under former Lincoln coach John Oaks. The Railsplitters narrowly missed the playoffs with Fricke under center.
Fricke’s predecessor, Matt Silkowski, ended the 39-year playoff drought in 2023 before stepping down this past season. The new parameters change the playoff equation profoundly, to say the least.
Fricke later played defensive end at McKendree University, where he decided to take up coaching. He served as a graduate assistant and defensive line coach at Illinois College where the Blueboys made their first ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 2011.
He became a defensive coordinator at Clinton for a season before descending on Piasa Southwestern where he took over as the head coach for four seasons beginning in 2014. The Piasa Birds went 13-23 under Fricke.
Fricke could especially draw parallels between Warrensburg and Lincoln, each with strong basketball traditions.
He believes that experience and familiarity will give him a leg up. Not to mention his dad, Mark, led the Lincoln JFL for over a decade in addition to being an assistant under Oaks.
“When you don’t have that tradition, kids aren’t growing up thinking, ‘I’m going to be a Lincoln football player,’” said Fricke, who also dabbled in basketball and track at Lincoln. “You have to really work hard at that. We’ve been at 45 kids on average every single year and I don’t know any school that’s our size that’s been able to do that. You just have to build relationships.
“It’s like you’re a college recruiter. You can’t just sit back and expect kids to come out in places like that.”
Fricke’s offense will present a different look than Silkowski’s Wing-T. Fricke said he tends to favor a modern spread offense, but that doesn’t mean he will abandon the run game. Perhaps far from it.
“I want to see what my team’s strengths are, and I feel like I’m flexible enough,” Fricke said. “I’m going to make the most of what I’ve got, and I know there’s athletes around Lincoln.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Lincoln turns to 2006 alum as next football coach
Reporting by Bill Welt, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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