It’s not often that a record-breaking NFL kicker roams the hallways of Saint Viator High School, but that may just become the new norm in the wake of the hiring of Robbie Gould as the new head football coach. Gould, a graduate of Penn State and walk-on kicker there, played 18 seasons in the National Football League before announcing his retirement and shifting his focus towards coaching. After one year at Rolling Meadows High School, Gould was drawn in by Saint Viator’s reputation for academics and athletics and in December, was officially hired to take over the football team.
“Our program is going to be built on one: academics, two: how to grow and bring people together as leaders, and three: athletically everyone playing together on the field,” said Gould.
Hailing from Pennsylvania, Gould made his way around the country playing professionally for teams such as the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers.
“I was a Patriots fan growing up,” said Gould. “I ended up playing for New England, so it was kind of cool playing for a team I grew up cheering for. Now you have the teams you play for to cheer for and guys you know you cheer for as well.”
Not only does Gould cheer for these professional teams, but also his kids–from whom he gained the love and experience of coaching. Coaching his children’s youth sports teams along with his time as a high school volunteer coach, Gould discovered a passion for coaching that he pursued following his NFL career. Inspired by his teachers and coaches as a kid, Gould hopes to emulate them in his ever evolving coaching career.
“I was just like these kids; all I cared about was going to school, playing sports,” said Gould, reflecting on his youth. “Just being able to help these kids not make the same mistakes I did and help them on their journey is really what drew me to high school coaching.”
Although still fairly new to coaching, Gould has high aspirations for the future of the Viator football program.
“Reset the standard of how we practice and how we play,” he said. “All 11 guys on the ball playing fast, playing physical, playing smart and having fun.”
Coming off of a four win, five loss season, Gould wants to reset and bring back the Viator glory days.
“There’s a rich history there, and I’m excited to reestablish that.”
Gould recounted how the school has been to the playoffs 19 times and won the conference 12 times, so his focus for the upcoming season and beyond is to bring the team to these victories once again. He said this starts in the weight room. Despite being February of the current school year, the team is in the weight room several times a week training for next year.
“We have an awesome strength coach,” said Gould. “He’s been very beneficial to our kids on how to set the culture, whether that’s pushing each other in the weight room or just by understanding how to deal with failure, and those lessons should turn over onto the field and in the classroom.”
Gould’s emphasis on culture is heavily shaped around the importance of education as well as athletics. Boasting Saint Viator’s one hundred percent college acceptance rate, he said, “I hope everyone goes to school and understands the magnitude of their grades,” followed by his second goal, “I want to make the playoffs and win the state championship.”
In pursuit of the state championship goal, Gould anticipates that the strongest challenge to overcome will be facing injuries.
“You always have to be forward thinking and put guys in positions to be successful,” he said.
With the combination of intense strength training and the availability of athletic trainers, injuries could dampen the team, but recovery should be quick as well. However, one of the biggest items Gould hopes to tackle is communication.
“I’m a big believer in ‘why?’” he said. “If you don’t know why you’re doing something, you’re probably not going to do it wholeheartedly.”
This is especially true with injury recovery and how important it is to communicate what needs to be done to get better and why.
Despite these potential challenges, Gould is excited for what the future holds.
“Anyone can do it for a month,” he said, talking about the team’s dedication to training. “We gotta do it all the way through November.”
Preparing for a summer full of training, Gould is most excited for one thing: “Game one.”