Anthony Faltin thinks that he is not what one would expect a former Air Force Air Marshall and football coach to be.

“We’re doing some different things. I’m big on doing yoga with the team twice a week. We don’t hit that often, maybe once or twice a week during the season,” he said. “Everything is fast-paced, high tempo. A little different. I would say I’m not your typical football coach.”

While he may not be a typical football coach, Faltin is a very successful one. During his stint as head coach at Walter Payton College Prep (2009-2014), Faltin’s teams were 23-3 in conference play, got to the state playoffs four seasons in a row, and won back-to-back conference championships in 2013 and 2014. This success led Lane to name him the new varsity head coach starting with the upcoming season.

Faltin said he and his staff intend to hold a very high standard for his players academically. If any player is failing a class, he will not be allowed to play until his grade goes up.

“If you have one failing class despite what your other grades are, you’re ineligible to play,” he said.

If a player happens to be failing, help can be found all around the team, as the assistant coaches are tutors, Faltin said. Also, the other players help tutor as well. Faltin does not want grades to be an issue during the season because he has hopes for his team to be playing deep into the playoffs.

“It’s going to be a long season because I see us going far, whether we’re in the state playoffs or city playoffs,” Faltin said. “That’s the goal, to be playing in November.”

Faltin may have just been hired, but he has had an interest in coaching at Lane for several years. When the job opened up five years ago, he wanted to apply, but was only in his second year as a head coach.

“We had lots of people apply. There were several resumes from inside the state,” Hofman said. “We also had resumes from people outside the state in Arizona, Florida, and Texas.”

After reviewing all of the resumes, Lane brought in five candidates to interview amongst a panel. This panel included Hofman, Assistant Athletic Directors Mr. Logalbo and Ms. Kaminski (formerly Ms. Lorenz), the assistant principals, Dr. Dignam, and head of security Nick Anagnopoulos.

Faltin interviewed amongst the panel and then had a second interview with Dr. Dignam. After those two interviews, he was offered the position.

By hiring Faltin, the team will go through several changes from the past regime. One of these changes includes passing the ball more often. Over the last several seasons, Lane’s offense was a triple option, which means running the ball for the major- ity of the plays. On the other hand, Faltin’s offense is a fast-paced, spread, no huddle offense, which is about percent running, 50 percent passing.

“I feel that when you can spread the field sideline to sideline and push the field vertically with passing the ball, it makes you tougher, it puts a little more stress on the defense. When they know you’re go- ing to run 85 percent of the time, they’re probably going to put seven or eight guys in the box,” Faltin said. “But if you’re a 50/50 team, you’re kind of balanced. They’re kind of going to keep guessing what you’re doing.”

Another change Faltin is implementing is the tempo the team performs at. During morning conditioning, the players lift weights and do plyometric exercises, but no one is ever walking around. Everything is fast-paced and the players are constantly moving. This is due to the fact that Faltin wants to be the best conditioned team in every game they play.

“We want to be able to control the tempo of the game. We’re not going to lose a game because we’re not conditioned,” Faltin said. “I want my team to be the fittest and best conditioned team in the state of Illinois and I think we’ll win ballgames just off of that, especially in conference.”

Faltin also feels that as of now, no player has a set position on the team. Every position on the field is wide open and waiting to be earned by the player that works the hardest.

“I don’t care if you’re a sophomore, junior, or senior. The best players are going to play,” he said. “The guys that come in and do the most, those are the guys that are going to be in the ball game.”

Soon after being hired, Faltin interviewed graduating senior players and asked them a few questions, such as “What made Lane Tech Football fun?” and “What made Lane Tech Football not fun?” He also interviewed every player currently in the football program, talking about what happens at home, what their favorite movie is, what position they want to play on the football field, what made football fun last year, and what did not make it fun last year.

“I do feel that when you have an open line of communication with the kids and you’re on the same page, you’re going to be able to accomplish a lot more,” he said.

During high school, Faltin was a member of Mount Carmel’s state champion football teams in 1998 and 1999. In fact, he was a rotating starter on those teams, even while being one of the small- est starters in the Catholic League. However, his size did not matter because of how well he played, which is something he wants his team to under- stand

“A lot of kids came up to me like ‘Do you want us to be really big? Because they [former coaches] preached about how big we should be,’” Faltin said. “I don’t really care how big you are. It’s how big you play.”

One difference Faltin has seen since arriving at Lane is the number of players in Lane’s program compared to Payton. In addition, Lane’s conference is more difficult than Payton, as conference foe Simeon advanced to the state championship game last year.

“Simeon has been the conference champ in their conference the last five, six years so obviously if we want to win anything within our conference it’s go- ing to have to go through Simeon,” he said.

In his interview, Faltin discussed how Lane needs a big win to get the fan base excited. Beating Sim- eon is a win that he believes could do exactly that.

“I think winning a game like that can kind of change a season,” he said.

All in all, Faltin said his first impression of the school has been a good one and that he and his staff are excited to be at Lane.

“I feel that Lane has accepted us with open arms. The kids, the administration, the teachers, I think we’re all on the same page,” Faltin said.

Faltin has three goals for the upcoming season. First, he hopes to win the season opener. Then, he hopes to win the conference. And finally, he wants to make the state playoffs.

“We want to be competing for a state championship. Lane has all the capabilities to do those three things,” he said.