His expression rarely changed.
Elk Grove football coach Miles Osei stoically watched his team suffer a second-half collapse in a 44-7 rout at Buffalo Grove on Sept. 28.
The Grenadiers dropped to 0-6. They have lost 16 games in a row and 30 of their last 32.
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In his first season as head coach, Osei didn’t let the disappointment from another blowout bother him.
“We are going to win at Elk Grove,” Osei said. “It’s bound to happen. We have a great staff and great kids. We have to change the mindset.
“We’ve been battling in the first half of almost every game, but one thing goes wrong and that self-doubt creeps in. Breaking that mindset and barrier is huge. I’m a 100-percent believer if you get kids to buy into that winning mindset, you can build a winner.”
Tough challenges are nothing new for Osei, once a dual-threat quarterback and one of the top prep players in the state.
He committed to Northern Illinois as a Prospect senior in December 2009, then changed his mind when Illinois offered a scholarship the next month.
With the Fighting Illini, Osei played sparingly. He eventually switched to wide receiver and watched as Northern Illinois entered the national spotlight with a star quarterback leading the way.
Osei had been the only quarterback in the Huskies’ recruiting class and might have had a chance to start in DeKalb. Instead, Jordan Lynch led Northern Illinois to the 2013 Orange Bowl and finished third the following season in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Osei said he never questioned his college decision. He embraced the challenge of playing in the Big Ten and now uses his college experience as a coach. Before taking over at Elk Grove, he was an assistant baseball coach at Buffalo Grove and an assistant football and basketball coach at Wheeling.
“I was committed to Northern Illinois, but there was something about a bigger challenge, seeing how far I could take (football) and that was interesting to me,” Osei said. “I felt like I wanted to see where my max ceiling could be and compete against players from the Big Ten.
“There have been no regrets. At the end of the day, I have some really great memories and the people I was around at Illinois, especially my teammates, I’ll have forever.”
Osei, 25, said Elk Grove had 38 varsity players last season. After he was hired in January, that number increased to 50, and there are just as many on the freshman team.
Only a few years removed from his playing days, Osei still shows off his vast passing skills in practices and provides insights from his time in Champaign. On the sidelines, he’s even-keeled.
Elk Grove senior quarterback Tyler Selvig said Osei is slowly changing the culture of the program.
“Coach Osei had one goal when he came here: to make Elk Grove the best team in the state,” Selvig said. “We have achieved so much as a team, even though the scoreboard doesn’t show it. We’ve grown as a team. It will be cool to one day come back and see them win playoff games.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press