FORT WAYNE – Because he has been in this coaching business for 35 years, Saint Francis’ Kevin Donley admits he’s had his share of father-son combinations; a two-generation bridge of coaching the old man first, then the kid.
Junior inside linebacker Brody Kalbaugh falls into such a grouping, but with a unique twist.
“Phil Kalbaugh graduated from Carmel High School in 1976,” says Donley, who was 25 at the time. “It was my first year as a college football coach. I was an assistant at Anderson University, and I had Indianapolis and Hamilton County in recruiting, and I recruited him – my very first recruit.”
Since then, Donley has remained a longtime friend of the family; was even in the wedding of Phil and Tami, and was informed of the birth of baby Brody 22 years ago last Sunday.
“I’ve known him since I’ve been born,” Brody Kalbaugh admits.
So when it came time for Brody Kalbaugh to leave Fishers High School and seek out a place to play college football, it was no surprise that he wound up in Fort Wayne.
“Saint Francis football wins,” Brody said. “I want to be on a winning team. And it would be pretty cool to play for the same coach who coached my dad in college.”
It’s been pretty cool for Saint Francis, too.
Kalbaugh not only leads the Cougars in tackles, but he’s nearly lapped the field. His 60 tackles – an impressive 35 over the last two games – are far ahead of second-place Derek VandenBosch’s 34.
“Phil is like Brody – a tough son of a gun,” Donley says. “Brody, I think, is a little more athletic; runs better than Phil.”
About the only knock on Brody is that he can be too intense, if there’s such a thing from an inside linebacker.
In his early days, Brody was asked more than once not to hammer his own quarterback or running back in practice.
He earned the nicknames of “Meathead” and “Brody Smash.”
“I got yelled at quite a few times,” Kalbaugh said. “I’m always working out, and I play very physical and play hard. But I’ve matured a lot. When I came in here as a young kid, I was going about a hundred miles an hour from snap to whistle.”
Donley recalls that Phil Kalbaugh got his teammates’ attention, but in a different way.
“I became head coach his junior year, and the program was struggling,” Donley said. “… The team at that time was out of control, doing things they shouldn’t have been doing. I brought (Phil Kalbaugh) in and said, ‘You got to help me change this environment. If you want to win football games, you’ve got to be the extension of me within this group when I’m not looking.’
“He made a deal with me that he’d get things right. He called a team meeting and said, ‘Look, you all know me; you know the way I am. I’m telling you this: We’re going to do it his way; that’s the way it’s going to be. And if I catch anybody breaking these rules, I will personally kick your butt;’ a few more adjectives.
“We turned it around; won my very first year there. I was 30-9 in four years, and he was the main reason.”
