Struggle Transforming Into Success as Loy Norrix Builds Best Season since 1990s
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
October 22, 2024
KALAMAZOO — Over Lorenzo Robertson’s first three years as head coach, the Kalamazoo Loy Norrix football team won a total of three games.
His patience and guidance have paid off this year, leading to the Knights' first five-win season since 1998.
A win against crosstown Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference East foe Kalamazoo Central in Friday’s regular-season finale would clinch an outright league championship for the Knights and potentially provide enough boost to get them back into the MHSAA Playoffs for the second time in school history – and first since 1997, when Loy Norrix featured future pros (Todd) T.J. Duckett and Little John Flowers.
Both Loy Norrix and Kalamazoo Central are 5-3 overall and 3-0 in SMAC East play heading into this weekend. The Knights finished 1-7 a year ago and entering this fall had won a combined 10 games over the last 12 – but they’ve guaranteed their first winning regular season in 26 years.
“We turned it around with a new commitment to the classroom,” Robertson said. “A lot of our kids are (now academically) eligible whereas when I got here, a lot of our kids struggled to keep the lower levels eligible. Those kids are now seniors, and they’re all doing well.”
Robertson said when he was hired, athletic director Andrew Laboe told him one of the key focuses was to get the players stronger.
When the new coach realized there was no weight training program, he started one.
“Where I come from (Bloomfield Hills Lahser, Pontiac and Dearborn Heights Robichaud), weights were very important to the point that we had a class for it during the school day for the football team and those that wanted to take the class that weren’t football,” Robertson said.
Robertson also implemented offseason training, and during the second summer camp this year he realized this could be the turnaround season.
“I knew the boys were getting it quickly, and we were able to move fast through the summer,” he said. “Because they had it down through the summer, when the season started, we hit the ground running.
“During our scrimmages, we were miles ahead of the teams we scrimmaged, though they were good teams. I could tell we were ready to go; we were moving fast. I knew that would carry over, just watching them in the summertime.”
Robertson also makes sure the players know the team’s history.
“Our coaches do a good job of researching,” he said. “Every team we play, we give (players) stats on when was the last time we beat ’em, how many times through the years, what’s our record down through the years. We teach these kids history of the Norrix program before we play.”
Before Robertson, things got so bad that in 2020 the football team, struggling to field players, left the SMAC and played as an independent.
This year, after four seasons away, the Knights are back in the conference.
“After our first SMAC game (we felt more competitive) because people were saying you won’t survive in the SMAC – and we come to the SMAC and it’s our best year,” said senior wide receiver/safety Rashad Waller. “That was really when I knew, oh yeah, I know this is it.”
A four-year varsity player, Waller said he stuck it out through the lean seasons because he knew things were bound to improve.
As a freshman, “watching behind the older guys and realizing they don’t have the time (to improve), I don’t want to be that guy,” he said. “I had to make my team lock in.
“Everybody in my class was tired of losing, so we just locked in and got it done. Coaching got a lot better, and guys really wanted it bad and made it happen.”
Waller already owns two school records. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to set a single-game record Sept. 20 against Mattawan. Both TD returns went for 99 yards, another all-time Norrix best and long enough to tie the MHSAA 11-player record for kickoff return distance as well.
Another senior, left guard/defensive tackle Will Dominianni, also weathered the previous three dismal varsity years.
“We were a young program with a new head coach, so all of us kind of grew into our roles when it comes to the coaching staff and players as well,” he said. “That was a big thing.
“We’ve really become a tight-knit group over the past couple years with all of us freshmen getting moved up on varsity our freshman year, so it was a bit like baptism by fire. We’ve all embraced the struggle together.”
Dominianni is one of the team’s rotating captains.
“Will Dominianni has probably been captain most of the year,” Robertson said. “David Jones is also having a great season.”
Jones, a junior running back/safety, is a second-year varsity player.
“The new guys we have are more dedicated (than previous years),” he said. “We’re coming together as a team. I knew it could change, and it did.”
Robertson said the success is a total team effort.
“We have a three-headed monster, sometimes a four-headed monster, at running back with David Jones, Maddox Pirochta, Christian Euceda. They have great per-carry averages.
“Whenever we get in trouble, we can give the ball to any of those three. Our running backs coach (Kierre Stinnette) does a great job rotating them in games.”
Robertson also credited his new defensive coordinator, Damion West, brought up from the junior varsity. “We promote from within,” Robertson said. “He’s pitched a couple shutouts with our defense. That will always keep you in games.”
Robertson added that the offensive line also has been a big improvement.
“This could be the best line I’ve had since being here, and we’re young with only two seniors in that group,” he said.
The quarterback position is shared by senior Jalen Evans and junior Jonavan Hare.
Besides working with players, Robertson also is building a rapport with parents, another key to the program’s success.
“When I came here, there was no parent booster program,” he said. “I’ve always known a parent booster group anywhere I’ve coached.
“We started that from scratch, and since that’s got rolling with our first group of parents, all the way to now has grown. Volunteerism has grown, and I always think that’s key to growing programs.”
He said he’s also thankful the administration stuck with him during the lean years.
“I think they saw the change in the boys through the years; that kept me here,” he said. “The boys are doing better in school, better citizens and that’s also important.
“Sometimes wins and losses are put on the back burner to what kind of young man you are bringing into the world. Football is such a life-teaching sport.”
Robertson is steeped in life-teaching skills.
A retired minister, he currently commutes to Detroit for his job as captain in the Detroit Fire Department.
“(The fire department job) helps me not take anything for granted with all the tragedy I see and everything else that goes on,” he said. “It helps me care on a personal level, on a human level, for the boys.
"They see a working man, they see somebody who’s a family man that’s dedicated to them. I’ve got common sense, no-nonsense and I think that’s what attracts them.”
Once those players are attracted to the program, Waller has some advice for them.
“A lot of the younger guys complain about playing time, but coach is watching, so just keep your head on and keep grinding,” he said. “You’re gonna get your chance. Other than that, don’t worry about all the offers and all that stuff. It will come eventually.
“The first two years just work on getting your body right, getting fast and keep your grades up – and it will be the best two years of your life.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s David Jones (6) sprints down the sideline during a Week 6 win over Battle Creek Lakeview. (2) Clockwise from top left: Knights coach Lorenzo Robertson, Will Dominianni, Rashad Waller and Jones. (3) Dominianni (64) helps protect his backfield against Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills. (4) Waller gets to the edge against St. Joseph. (Action photos by Steve Andrie; headshots by Pam Shebest.)
Cisco Recalled for Jefferson Greatness, Care for Kids & Staff Over Half-Century as Coach
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 1, 2026
Marc Cisco was a gruff old football coach who was intimidating and set in his ways.
Not really.
In fact, to those who knew him, Cisco was more like a teddy bear who had passions for good football, watching student-athletes play the game right and spending time with his close circle of friends.
Cisco died Sept. 24 in Grand Rapids at the age of 90, leaving a legacy on high school football in southeast Michigan. He was best known for coaching the Monroe Jefferson varsity football team for a remarkable 47 years. His teams won 241 games, including the 1994 Class B championship in the Pontiac Silverdome.
“It appeared he was this mean old guy. He might yell at you, but he would be the first one to pat you on the back and tell you good job,” said one of his former players, Jeff Potter. “He really cared about his kids and nurtured his players. He was mostly a big teddy bear.”
Cisco made a career in education as a teacher and coach. In addition to coaching the Jefferson football team for 47 years, he coached track & field for almost as many seasons.
His son, Zeke, played for his father and was the Jefferson quarterback. Later, Zeke was a walk-on at the University of Nebraska. When Zeke was away at college and would come home for a visit each May, he would volunteer to work at the Jefferson Invitational track meet because that’s where he would find his dad.
“He was just a coach,” Zeke said. “My childhood was all about sports. If I wanted to see him in the fall, I had to go to practice. If I want to hang around with him in the winter, he kept score at basketball games, so I would go to the basketball games. He kept the scoreboard during wrestling meets. I usually would sit under his legs, underneath the scorers’ table. I would hit him in the legs a lot because he would get bored and forget to add the score on.
“He was nestled in the fabric of the high school in every way, shape or form.”
Niles Kruger, sports editor at The Monroe News, said when Zeke was at Nebraska, Marc Cisco was usually one of the first coaches every Friday to call in his stats and scores because he would be jumping in a car to drive to watch his son play.
“He was one of my favorite postgame interviews because he was always the same, win or lose,” Kruger said. “He was quite a character and pretty good at cussing. He would always say afterwards, ‘Clean that up for me.’”
Cisco had a tremendous relationship with his assistant coaches. Several members of the Jefferson coaching staff were there for at least 40 of Cisco’s 47 years.
“His vacations, his fun things to do, were always with other coaches, their wives and their families,” Zeke Cisco said. “They would get together for card nights. They would go to Toledo Raceway (harness racing) Park. Pretty much every coach’s driveway, roof and deck were all built by the other coaches on the staff. They took care of each other.”
Cisco’s legacy includes an extended coaching tree filled with former players. Zeke has built a very successful program at Byron Center. Jason Gendron is the Gibraltar Carlson coach and in the middle of a tremendous run with the Marauders. Potter has coached at Ida for a decade and made that program a playoff regular.
“He was a big part of why I became a coach,” Potter said. “He was like a second family. My dad coached with him for 40 years. He was my Godfather. Our offense now is pretty much the same offense we ran in high school.”
Cisco had spent time in Florida after retiring but made his home in Reading near the Michigan-Indiana border the last few years.
“He would drive up to our games on Fridays,” Zeke said. “He would be in the parking lot at 3 o’clock.”
Marc had health issues over the last year, suffering from a stroke and congestive heart failure. He took a turn for the worse a little more than a week ago. He and his wife Donna, also a former coach at Jefferson, were together for more than 56 years. She survives.
Marc Cisco was a legend long before he started blowing the coaching whistle. Growing up in Morenci, he earned 16 varsity letters – four each in football, basketball, baseball and track – before graduating in 1954. The Bulldogs football team won 44 straight games during his career, and he made The Associated Press all-state team three times.
Larry Tuttle, the winningest baseball coach in Michigan high school history, was a student at Morenci when Cisco was a player.
“I never missed one of his games because my mom and dad would go to all of them,” he said. “Later on, we became good friends. He was such a great football player.”
Cisco played football at Michigan State University under head coach Duffy Daugherty and later at the University of Toledo.
He got his teaching start at Britton Macon High School in Lenawee County, before moving closer to the banks of Lake Erie and Jefferson in 1961.
It was 1963 when Cisco first coached Jefferson, leading the varsity to a 4-3 season – the first of three straight winning campaigns. The tide turned in 1966 when Jefferson went 0-6. The team won seven games over the next three seasons before Cisco stepped down.
He regained the job in 1973 and stayed until 2012. He was the Bears’ varsity coach 41 years in all. From the time his 1983 team went 9-0 until the mid-2000s, Jefferson was a model of consistency, producing winner after winner. The 1993 team went 10-1, the 1994 team 12-1, and the 1999 team 11-2. It was the 1994 Bears that won the Class B title.
Zeke Cisco said when his father retired, it was rather unceremonious. There was no big announcement or celebration, although the school had much earlier renamed the football and track stadium after him.
“He just sort of stepped away,” he said. “He would come up here and watch his grandsons play.”
Marc Cisco never took himself or his wins too seriously.
“You know, I used to always give him hell,” Zeke said. “I'd call him and go, oh, ‘It's the winningest coach Monroe County.’ He goes, ‘I'm also the losingest coach in Monroe County.’”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Marc Cisco coaches his Monroe Jefferson football team. (Middle) From left, John Castiglione, Cisco and Dave Potter monitor the action at the Silverdome during their team’s 1994 Class B Final. (Below) Cisco, while starring at Morenci. (Jefferson photos courtesy of the Monroe News. Morenci photo courtesy of Larry Tuttle.)