The Forester football team began practicing on Wednesday and the coaching staff included several new faces.

"I've been fortunate to have great assistant coaches throughout my time here and this year is no exception," noted Lake Forest College Head Coach Jim Catanzaro. "The returning members of the staff have proven themselves with three conference titles in the last four seasons and the new guys bring with them some great experience, leadership qualities, and enthusiasm for football at this level."

Atop the list of newcomers is defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Matt Williamson, who got his start in coaching at his alma mater, Mount Union University. Williamson helped the Purple Raiders reach seven consecutive NCAA Division III Championship Games, the first four as a player and the last three as an assistant coach. Mount Union captured a pair of national titles during his playing career He also served for a combined 12 years on the staffs at Illinois Wesleyan University, Gannon University, Urbana University, and Seton Hill University.

Jackson Joyce is the Foresters' new offensive line coach. A 2023 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Joyce comes to Lake Forest from Concordia University Chicago, where he coached the Cougars' offensive linemen and tight ends in 2024 and, as a graduate assistant, worked with the offensive linemen the previous season.

The 2025 season will be new defensive backs coach Keith Woodson's 14th as an assistant coach and sixth at the collegiate level. He was most recently the defensive backs coach at Lakeland University, his alma mater, and he has filled the same role at Elmhurst University, Concordia University Chicago, and Trinity International University.

One of the recent additions is not actually new to the staff. Defensive ends coach Karl Crawford spent most of the 2021 conference championship season season working in the same role through the Soldiers to Sidelines internship program. Crawford spent the rest of the 2021-22 academic year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Arizona State University. He then returned to coaching high school football and has 10 years of experience at that level.

Jacob Nihan and seniors Chris Cappellini and Christian Perez have also joined the staff. Nihan will serve as an analyst while Cappellini with work with coaches on the offensive side of the ball and Perez on defense.

Returning from last year are wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Mark Gorogianis, quarterbacks coach Stephen Bourbon, ki9ckers/punters coach Mike Dau '58, tight ends/h-backs coach Mark Dodd, outside linebackers coach Ernest Duplessis, defensive line coach Jaron Eanes '10, defensive backs coach Albert Greene, running backs coach Tim Spencer, defensive assistant Dean Storkan, and assistant offensive line coach Salvo Taibi.