After a disappointing 2023 season for Lakes football, coach Ray Gialo returns as the offensive coordinator after transitioning from defense to offense. Gialo is one of the longest-tenured coaches in Lakes football history. His coaching career began back in 1998 when he landed his first coaching position as a freshman offensive and defensive line coach for St. Patrick High School- despite not having any prior coaching experience. This is where his love of coaching began and where he shaped his team and the men on it.
As he grew relations with his peers, those connections led to Gialo becoming a coach here at Lakes Community High school.
When Gialo’s great friend and former St. Patrick’s coach, Luke Mertens, got the head coaching job at Lakes Community High School, he called up Gialo to offer him a spot as the defensive coordinator. This was the very beginning of Lakes football where they worked to set a foundation for the future. Gialo held this position from 2005 to 2015, and at this point in his career he was feeling quite confident in his ability to coach the game at a high level. Then in 2016 after coach Rowells stepped into a new role in the school a void opened up on staff. After an unsuccessful search for an offensive line coach, they turned to Gialo. When asked about this experience he stated, it “[it] was the most humbling experience in my life” and “there is no harder job in football.” It was his favorite position group he ever coached despite how difficult it was for him. This eye-opening experience helped him understand the game from a completely different perspective.
After a few years coaching the offensive line, Gialo had his first stint at offensive coordinator. This was a time of lots of transition and learning as Gialo just switched to offense only a few years prior, and now he is calling the plays for the offensive unit. From 2018 to 2021, Lakes’s offense averaged 28.7 points per game under Gialo, and he helped lead the team to three more IHSA state playoff appearances. After going back to defense for a few years he found his way back to the offensive side of the ball as the Lakes’ offensive coordinator for the 2024 season.
After multiple position changes Gialo has coached all over the field. All these twists and turns have all led back to help him at offensive coordinator. Coaching all those different positions has helped him learn valuable lessons. They have each played a role in how Gialo views and calls the offense now. One of the most important lessons Gialo has learned from his football journey is how the defense reacts to certain things. After learning so much about the ins-and-outs of defense, he can use this knowledge to better his play-calling ability.
Towards the end of our conversation he talked about how every week is a grind, and lot’s of preparation goes unnoticed behind the scenes. Preparation for each week’s game is just one thing that is a necessity when it comes to leading a football team.
While watching the game all the fans see are the results, the big plays, and the touchdowns. However, Gialo is keyed in on all the little things. Gialo defines success as the execution of the little things. Gialo describes those little things to all build up to what people see on the field.
What people see on the field doesn’t show all the behind the scenes work.
“That end result, doesn’t just happen by accident, [it] happens because all the attention to detail and all those little things that lead up to that, that success, is just the by-product of doing all those little things the right way”.
At the end of the day the only thing Gialo can do is prepare the offense to the best of his ability and hope the ball bounces their way. When trying to stay consistent in a sport that is never consistent the most important thing is to always hold yourself to the standard, because “the standard is the standard”.
