The 2025 season was the second for Stephen Bourbon as Lake Forest's quarterbacks coach and first as pass game coordinator.
Lake Forest went 7-3 overall in 2025 and tied for second place in the Midwest Conference standings at 7-2 in league play. First Team All-MWC quarterback Ethan Springer set a single-season school record and ranked fifth in the nation by completing 71.7 percent of his passes. He was also 21st in the country with the second-highest pass efficiency rating 164.9 in program history.
The Foresters are now 17-4 overall and 16-2 in conference games with a league title and NCAA Tournament appearance since Bourbon joined the staff. Quarterbacks on the team, including two who earned All-MWC honors, have completed more than 65 percent of their passes for nearly 5,100 yards with 44 touchdown passes against just 11 interceptions during that span.Â
Bourbon came to Lake Forest after two seasons as a graduate assistant at Roosevelt University in Chicago. As the quarterbacks coach in 2022 and running backs coach in 2023, he helped lead the Lakers to a 13-7 record during that span.
Prior to his two years at Roosevelt, Bourbon was the quarterbacks coach at Trinity International University in 2020 and 2021 and an assistant at St. Charles High School, where he directed tight ends and H-backs the previous two seasons.
Bourbon graduated from the University of Illinois in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism. He also earned his master's in business administration with a management concentration from Roosevelt in 2024.
