Palka introduced as next head coach of Adrian College football

ADRIAN – Former Summerfield football coach Joe Palka is going back to college.

Palka, who grew up in St. Anthony's, has been the head football coach of Saline High School since 2012, but has college coaching experience at St. Joseph's and Eastern Michigan.

He was officially introduced Monday as the new head coach at Adrian College.

Palka, a former player and assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, became a high school head coach at the age of 23 then took over as head coach at St. Joseph’s College at 30.

Palka was head coach at Toledo Central Catholic, his alma mater and Ohio's largest Catholic high school. He turned a losing football program into one of the state's top 10 and led CC to its first postseason championship game since 1987. He later coached at Whitmer.

Palka coached football and track and field for two seasons at Summerfield from 1988 to 1990.

In 1989 he was named Monroe County Region football Coach of the Year after leading the Bulldogs to a 7-2 season and the Tri-County Conference championship.

He grew up in St. Anthony's and went on to start at linebacker for Grand Valley State University.

When Jim Harkema left GVSU to become Eastern Michigan's head coach in 1983, Palka followed and he became a three-year starter at outside linebacker for EMU.

Palka was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Academic team in 1986 and was a member of the Dean's List throughout his four years. He also was named Eastern Michigan's Alumni Varsity "E'' Club Scholar Athlete of the Year for 1986-87.

His wife, Kaleen, is a former Summerfield varsity volleyball coach and also was a Region Coach of the Year in 1992.

Palka took aim at Alma College during Monday's press conference.

Right now, there is a large gap between Adrian and Alma.

The Bulldogs went 1-9 and 0-7 in the MIAA while the Scots are back-to-back MIAA champions, are ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation and have won NCAA Division III tournament games in each of the last two years. Until last season, no MIAA had won a tournament game since 2017.

Palka is looking to close the gap.

"That gap is where we're at now and where the potential could be," Palka said. "One thing I believe in whole heartily is a continual improvement model. We'll talk about all the time, waking up every day and getting one day better. Winning becomes a byproduct of that continual improvement."

Palka is only the third full-time head coach since 1990 after 20 years with Jim Lyall and another 14 with Jim Deere.

"I'm not looking to get another job," Palka said. "I'm not looking to get to Saginaw Valley or Northern Michigan, I'm here for the long haul. We want to win right away and I'm not going to shy away from that. I've thought about this job a lot and I've thought about what I want for my future and I'm firmly planted here and I'm ready to be here for a long time."

When Deere resigned during the 2023 season, the process began right away to find the program's next head coach.

Athletics director Craig Rainey came up with a football committee to help in the search which included former head coach Ron Labadie, who led Adrian to three MIAA titles from 1982-89, former wide receiver Kevin Fry, former linebacker and Adrian High School athletic director Chad O'Brien, former defensive back and assistant baseball coach Aaron Klotz and former linebacker and Madison high school coach Taz Wallace

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"I'm not a football guy," Rainey said. "I was important I surrounded myself with people who understood the X's and O's of football, so I assembled and asked some of the people I respect greatly in the football community to be a part of this committee. They did a tremendous amount of work, many late nights, and a very extensive interview process.

"It was truly important for them to be involved and something cool about the committee is everyone has a connection with Adrian College, which was very important."

While Rainey admitted he wasn't a football guy, he did know what he was looking for when selecting a new leader for the Bulldogs.

"A successful track record in winning football games and turning out great people," Rainey said.

Palka went 112-21 in 12 seasons at Saline and posted a 59-17 record at Whitmer High School in Toledo. Palka has produced a number of college athletes and leaders from Saline and two former members of his coaching staff with the Hornets are now leading Adrian High School in head football coach Joel Pryzgodski and O'Brien as AD.

"They needed to have a connection to Adrian College," Rainey said.

Palka's dad graduated from Adrian College and he's followed the Bulldogs closely.

"I have a lot of ties to Adrian College," Palka said. "I've been in Lenawee County a ton in my life and I love it here. In a lot of ways, not to be cliche, it's a sleeping giant. The opportunity is here for greatness and has always been a program I grew up with. I would always look for the Adrian score every week. There's an incredible opportunity and it's the right time for me and the right time, hopefully, for Adrian College.

"Things happen for a reason and there are a lot of things in play that put me here today."

Another thing Rainey wanted was someone with recruiting ties to Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

"That's where our recruiting ties need to the strongest," Rainey said.

Palka has tremendous ties among the top programs in the state of Michigan as he's played against those top-tier programs for 12 seasons. He's also coached in Ohio at a high level.

"The amount of texts I've gotten from two groups, college coaches and pro coaches, the amount of contacts we've been able to cultivate over the years has been phenomenal and we're going to use that to our advantage," Palka said. "Second is a great group of high school coaches. Guys I've coached against, ran clinics with or guys I recruited as a college coach is vast and a large number are Adrian College alumni. Guys saying they can help in Macomb County or in the Dayton area. Guys are pouring out right now volunteering their services to help."

Rainey also wanted someone who could engage with alumni and with the community in Lenawee County and create a culture that builds quality people.

"Joe Palka fits all of these criteria and more," Rainey said. "We're looking for his leadership to once again restore Adrian College on top of the MIAA."

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Palka has not chosen his staff yet and is not ruling out retaining members of the current coaching staff.

To leave the position he was in with Saline, it was going to a great deal of excitement and comfort for Palka.

The Bulldogs fit the bill.

"I've been involved with a couple of head coaching jobs in college the last couple of years," he said. "None of them felt comfortable taking for a couple of reasons. One was loyalty. I'm a family man and didn't want to move two hours away, just to take a job. I also felt, in my heart, if I would've taken one of those jobs, what if the Adrian job opened? I had a good job, I loved Saline, and was comfortable there. I was waiting for the right opportunity for a job to open up and this was the right opportunity."

"We want to create that family of guys. It could be a while, but we don't want it to take a while. We want to be competitive immediately."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Former Summerfield coach takes over Adrian College football