When Jon Robinson left his Division I coaching job to become Father Gabriel Richard’s head football coach in the summer of 2021, he had never coached high school football before. He was looking for a more balanced life for his family, and waiting for God to show him the way. And God led him straight to the Irish.
Football has been a cornerstone of Robinson’s life for decades. He played through high school at Livonia Churchill and college at Wayne State, including all the way to the Division II national championship game during his senior year at WSU. After Robinson earned his bachelor’s degree in 2012, he jumped right into coaching, working on the coaching staff while earning his master’s. Over the next nine years, he moved up the college coaching ladder, eventually ending up as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for Valparaiso University.
After the pandemic gave him the unexpected gift of extra family time, Robinson considered a change. He and his wife, Courtney, decided to consider moving closer to their families and having him take a job coaching high school football. After interviews with six different high schools, Robinson chose FGR, and started in July 2021. He was nervous about the change, and remembers standing in his room praying openly that God would make the way clear. Three years later, he feels confident in that choice. “It feels like I asked God to catch me, and he did.”
Robinson describes himself as a “fierce competitor,” but knew coming in that a winning record would not be the school’s first priority. “They’ve told me that they don’t care as much about wins and losses as they do about moving kids closer to Jesus Christ.” FGR’s president, Joe Jordano, asked Robinson personally to commit to the “1% challenge” of spending 1% of each day in prayer.
“I’ve gotten a lot closer to my faith because of that fourteen minutes and twenty-four seconds in the chapel,” Robinson says. While the team is getting attention now because of their improvements on the field, he says he has felt excitement from the beginning of his time at FGR about Jesus’ presence in his life and his players’ lives. “I could have had this same conversation two years ago,” he says. “I got here, and I was like, ‘Jesus is here! Yes!’”
The focuses of the football program are shaped by FGR’s and Robinson’s shared commitment to the spiritual growth of the players. “I want to be the best always, but we have to show love and build the program the right way,” he says. This manifests in many different ways. The locker room is filled with custom mirrors Robinson had made to remind the players to examine their own growth in the team’s core values. He correlates the values with days of the week, from Attitude Monday to Grateful Friday, culminating in Faith Sunday. The “Faith” mirror sits right next to the door the players take outside to the field, to remind them of the real goal of all their hard work. “We want to help the kids to become the best versions of themselves, and teach them to be selfless rather than selfish,” Robinson says.
In the end, he thinks that’s been the key to the team’s growth on the field. After going 2-7 in 2021 and 3-6 in 2022, FGR’s varsity football team had an 8-3 record in 2023, going almost undefeated in the regular season and making it to the playoffs for the first time in years. “I think we were able to win because [the team] played selfless football for one another,” Robinson says. “You could tell by the tears in their eyes at the end of that playoff game how much they truly care for one another, and ultimately they knew they were trying to build a program for the school.”
Leighanne Denja, parent of running back and linebacker Michael Denja ‘24, echoes this idea. She says the program is “beyond blessed” to have Coach Robinson and his staff at the helm, but that for her the best part has been seeing the efforts and effects of the cohort of boys who led the team to their triumphant 2023 season. “It has been a beautiful thing to watch unfold over the last four years,” Leighanne says. As a parent, she feels privileged to have watched the team grow in character and camaraderie over her son’s time on the football team, and credits the team’s great season to that growth. “As much as it is a team, it is also a family,” she says. “Let’s GOOOOOO Irish!”
The players’ experiences point in the same direction. Wide receiver and cornerback Eli Everts ‘24 wrote an essay for his senior English class in which he lauded Coach Robinson for encouraging him to put effort into his physical, mental, and spiritual health. It’s been life-changing for Eli, and helped him learn to become an example for others, he writes. “I realized that I have a big role to play by setting a good example to the younger class on how to have a good work ethic, and that I could help lead my younger teammates down a good path.” His time on the football team has reminded Eli that “we were made to love others and help them find their way to Heaven,” and he is grateful for the ways that FGR football has helped him focus and live a better life.
Michelle Rourke, parent manager of the team and mother of defensive lineman Patrick Rourke ‘24, sees this past year’s successful season as the culmination of years of player, coach, and parent investment in the team. “You are loved,” she told the students at the end-of-season banquet, pointing out to them that their parents’ support, from attending games down to “doing your stinky laundry” is a reflection of their love for the players. And it’s been a pleasure, she says, to see the growth in the players after years of hard work.
“Much of their grit and work ethic, I attribute to David Kendzicky,” Michelle says. Kendzicky, beloved former Ann Arbor Saints coach and father of quarterback James Kendzicky ‘24, passed away in December 2021. “Dave’s love for his family, the faith, and FGR led him to commit countless hours to coaching and forming young men, helping them become excellent.” In victories both on and off the field, Michelle sees the growth of the team as “the young men harvesting the seeds that Coach Kendzicky sowed in their lives, and we are blessed to have Coach Robinson carrying on that legacy.”
Coach Robinson has big plans to do just that. He regularly scouts current FGR students looking for those he thinks would be good additions to the team, and is working on building his staff, with a focus on the football program’s core values and ways to support the players. He’s implementing many ideas, such as a “big brother” program that pairs seniors with sophomores and juniors with freshman to help older players mentor the younger ones, and a cell-phone-free team camp. He’s trying to foster a growth mindset on the team, and always comes back to the mission FGR gave when they hired him. It’s not only about wins and losses, it’s about bringing people closer to Christ. No matter what the football team’s record in the years to come, that will be a constant.
To learn more about sportsmanship at FGR, click here.