Jarve Lewis-Bey, Keenan Phillips-Riley Revive Curie Football
A New Era of Success
After finishing a successful run at Hyde Park, Jarve Lewis-Bey and Keenan Phillips-Riley took last year off from football coaching. But they got the itch to get back in the game when they saw the Curie job open up and made a pact to apply together, coming on board as a package deal no matter who got the job. “My resume was pretty much lost,” Phillips-Riley said. “Which pretty much turned out to be a good thing.”
Lewis-Bey Gets the Job
Lewis-Bey got the job, and Phillips-Riley took over as offensive coordinator. The rest, as they say, is history. After starting 1-4, the Condors returned to the IHSA playoffs for the first time since 2019. It’s the latest success story for Lewis-Bey, a Senn graduate who also took his alma mater and Marshall to the playoffs before joining Phillips-Riley’s staff as defensive coordinator.
A New Approach
Curie finished 5-5 after losing to Glenbard East in a Class 8A opener. The previous four seasons, the Condors had four victories and went winless twice. It was a puzzling fall for a program that seemingly checked all the boxes for football success. Curie is one of the biggest schools in the state with an enrollment of more than 3,000. It had a solid football tradition with 23 playoff berths under five coaches dating back to 1980. And its basketball program is led by one of the state’s most respected and successful coaches in Mike Oliver, who actively encourages his athletes to play football.
A Tough but Rewarding Journey
Yet, when Lewis-Bey held summer workouts, he had only around 15 players show up. Those players didn’t have it easy. “I’ve got to see who’s going to be tough enough just to be around,” he said. “Who can take me being on [them] constantly and can deal with it.” At the end of summer camp, Lewis-Bey shifted his tactics, saying his message was “nothing but positives. … ‘I knew you didn’t quit when I yelled at you. … Let me see where you step up now that you know you are the man and that I believe you can do what I need you to do.'”
The Team’s Comeback
The Condors have fewer than 40 varsity players, a low number for Class 8A. But they’re heading in the right direction again. “It means everything to me,” senior fullback/linebacker Eduardo Seija said. “I went from seeing everyone crying on senior night to actually be in the playoffs and be happy for once.” The Condors weren’t in the playoffs just because Lewis-Bey was tough on them. “We got taught things I never got taught in my first three years playing here,” Seija said.
A New Era of Success
“We brought the teaching point,” Phillips-Riley said. “We taught them how to play football.” Lewis-Bey, 52, has been doing that for three decades. Fresh out of college, he came back to Chicago and started coaching. There were stints as an assistant at Austin, Englewood, and Brooks before he got his first head-coaching job at Senn in 2006. The Bulldogs hadn’t been to the playoffs in 14 years, but that drought ended with back-to-back appearances in 2009-10 and Lewis-Bey finished 35-16 in five seasons. Then he was off to Marshall, taking the Commandos to the playoffs in each of his first two years and three times overall in an eight-year stint that ended in 2018.
Conclusion
The story of Jarve Lewis-Bey and Keenan Phillips-Riley’s revival of Curie football is one of perseverance, dedication, and a commitment to teaching the game. By focusing on the fundamentals and building a strong team culture, they have brought the Condors back to the IHSA playoffs for the first time since 2019.
FAQs
* What were the team’s goals for the season?
+ The team’s goal was to make it to the IHSA playoffs.
* What were the key factors in the team’s success?
+ The key factors were the team’s hard work, dedication, and the coaching staff’s ability to teach the game.
* How did the team’s culture change?
+ The team’s culture changed from a negative to a positive one, with a focus on teamwork, discipline, and responsibility.
* What did the team learn from their experience?
+ The team learned the importance of perseverance, teamwork, and the value of hard work and dedication.
