Lenawee Christian's Bill Wilharms steps down as head football coach
ADRIAN — Bill Wilharms, who led Lenawee Christian to three state football championships over the last four years and won more than 100 games as a varsity head coach, has stepped down as the Cougars coach.
“I feel I need to step away from my football coaching responsibilities,” Wilharms said in a statement. “This will hopefully diminish the stress in my life and allow me to take care of my own body a little better. It will also allow me to pursue my strength and conditioning passion to help more teams and athletes reach the highest level that they can.”
Wilharms started coaching at LCS in 2012 as an assistant coach and became head coach in 2013, going 7-3 and guiding LCS into the playoffs that first season. LCS won 10 games in 2019, going 10-2, and then transitioned to 8-Player football in 2020 where it went 11-0 and won a state title.
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The Cougars repeated the state title in 2021 and again last season, going 13-0.
In 11 years at LCS, the Cougars sent 91-27.
Prior to that, Wilharms coached five seasons at Madison, winning 12 games. He has an overall record of 103-61 as a head coach.
In a letter to LCS football families, LCS athletic director Craig Anderson praised Wilharms for his dedication to the Cougars, saying he has been a “strong, faithful and influential coach” during his time.
“He knows how to build successful teams, as he surrounds himself with other gifted leaders and is clear in his team expectations,” Anderson said. “We have many outstanding memories over the last 11 football seasons, as his teams competed on the field with tremendous grit (and) modelled sportsmanship.
“Beyond the championships and winning games, he has demonstrated an ability to develop young men. Men of character, hard work, sacrifice and men who know God.”
Wilharms is a native of northern Wisconsin who came to Adrian, where his wife, Carmen, is from. The two met at Valparaiso University in Indiana. He has taught at Madison since 1995 and is the strength and conditioning coach at both LCS and Madison.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Bill Wilharms steps away from Lenawee Chrisitan football program
