All Star Coach West 2010
1st Assistant Jack Coon
Cheboygan High School
Jack grew up in mid-Michigan and graduated from Alma High School in 1974 where he played football and ran track for the Panthers. After high school, he attended CMU and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in education with a physical education major and history minor.
While still attending CMU, Jack began his coaching career at Alma High School. He worked with his former coaches for four years before heading west to take a teaching/coaching position at Joplin Parkwood High School in Joplin, Missouri. After four seasons and one state championship with the Bears, Jack found himself at Cheboygan High School as an assistant coach to Irv Sigler. After just three years as an assistant, Jack took over as head coach at age 32 in 1988. He has been with the Chiefs ever since. In 22 years as head coach, Jack and his staff of dedicated coaches have won nine conference titles and qualified for the playoffs 14 times. In 1991, Cheboygan played in the Silverdome for a state title, losing to a very talented Farmington Hills Harrison team. Jack’s overall record as head coach is 150-71. Coach Coon has received Regional Coach of the Year honors five times and was inducted into the MHSFCA Hall of Fame in 2009.
Jack has been married to his biggest fan, his wife Erin, for four years, and they live in Cheboygan. Coach Coon’s parents, as well as extended family from across the state, put many miles on their vehicles to support Cheboygan Football. A highlight of Jack’s coaching career was the amazing opportunity to coach his son Ryan in high school and then watch him succeed for four years with the Alma College Scots playing defensive back. (Ryan has coached football for Shepherd High School for two years.) About having the opportunity to coach in the all-star game, Coach Coon said, “it is not only a personal honor to be chosen as an all star coach, but I am also honored to represent Cheboygan Football and the community of Cheboygan. It is a privilege to be a part of an elite group of coaches from across the state who have coached this premier game and to work with the best football players from Michigan.”