Steve Struzyk hired as Galena's new football coach

RENO -- Steve Struzyk was announced as Galena's fourth head football coach in the school's history during a press conference on Thursday. Struzyk takes over for Greg Sakelaris, who resigned earlier this month after six years with the program, five of them as the Grizzlies' head coach.

"Obviously we wanted to go in-house first and then open up to outside candidates if we weren't happy with the applicants," said Teresa Burrows, Galena's athletic director. "But if we felt we had a good enough candidate, we wouldn't do that. We stopped with Steve. We feel he's going to continue the success we've had."

Struzyk served as Sakelaris' offensive coordinator the past five years and has been involved with the program the last six years. Sakelaris, who plans to go into the construction business, compiled a 20-29 record as a head coach at Galena. However, after only winning three games in his first two seasons, he has taken the Grizzlies to the Northern 4A playoffs three consecutive years.

"I know there's pressure with this job now because we've done well the past few years," said Struzyk, who played Division II football at Northern State University (S.D.). "Everyone expects Galena to have a chance against anybody now and I like that."

The Grizzlies went 7-4 the past two seasons and reached the zone semifinals last year before losing to McQueen. Struzyk is taking a simple approach to next season.

"It's kind of like a 'if it's not broke, don't fix it type of thing," said Struzyk, who will welcome back 8-10 starters from last year's team. "I've learned a lot from him (Sakelaris). For six years we've been working hard together. We have a good core group of players returning. The senior class won't be as large as this year's, but we're hoping the juniors are going to step up."

Struzyk, a native of Holdingford, Minn., a small town about an hour west of Minneapolis, said he definitely didn't expect to be Galena's head football coach next fall.

"Actually it was a bit of a shock when I found out he was going to resign," Struzyk said of Sakelaris, who was Galena's defensive coordinator in 1997 before taking over head-coaching duties in 1998. "Even when I heard he was leaving I wasn't really sure it was true until he signed on that dotted line that he was resigning. I wish him the best. He's got on opportunity right now in his life that he might not get again."