Chicago Rush Back in Business With Local Talent at the Helm

Lost in all the talk about the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement—the owners have approved it; the players could vote on it Monday—is the fact that there is professional football being played right now in the suburbs.

Albeit, the games are played indoors on a 50-yard field. There are eight players on offense and defense, rather than 11. And the receiving team is allowed to field any kickoff or missed field goal attempt that bounces off a large net behind each goal post.

It's arena football, whose season has been going since mid-March.

The AFL's local franchise, the Chicago Rush, happens to be putting up some noticeable numbers this season. The Rush clinched the National Conference's Central Division title July 16 with a 53-44 victory over the Dallas Vigilantes, and wrapped up their regular season Saturday night with a loss to the Milwaukee Mustangs at their home, the Allstate Arena, to finish 13-5.

The Rush begins postseason play on Friday, hosting the Vigilantes—a team they have already defeated twice this year.

If you happen to browse the Rush's Web site and the names Bob McMillen and Gene Nudo ring a bell, it's because they have ties to the DuPage County area.

McMillen, in his first season as the Rush's head coach and director of football operations, played high school football at Immaculate Conception in Elmhurst and was the first inductee into the school's athletic Hall of Fame. He played a year at the College of DuPage, and from there, went a few miles south to Benedictine University in Lisle (then called Illinois Benedictine College), where he was a three-time Division III all-American.

His ties to the Arena League run deep, too. McMillen played 12 AFL seasons and was part of three ArenaBowl championship teams, including the 2006 champion Rush. He is the AFL's No. 2 all-time leading rusher and was named one of the 20 greatest players in league history.

McMillen credits his high school coach, the late Jack Lewis, for helping mold him into the player and coach he is today.

"A lot of me comes from him—how tough-nosed he was; how he didn't put up with anything," said McMillen following a recent Rush practice at Soccer City Palatine.

During the morning practice, Nudo leaned along the sideline boards, intently watching the session. The Rush's president and general manager coached Addison Driscoll Catholic High School, which closed its doors in 2009, for three seasons (1989-1991). Nudo's 1991 squad captured the state Class 3A title with a 14-0 record.

Mike Burzawa, who later became the head coach at Driscoll, started at tailback for the Highlanders that season. Tim Racki, also a successful Driscoll head coach, was in his first year as an assistant for Nudo in '91. Burzawa currently is the head coach at Evanston High School, and Racki is Nazareth Academy's (La Grange Park) head coach.

Nudo and McMillen, meanwhile, share a timeline in the AFL that goes back to 1995. McMillen ended up being the first player ever signed by Nudo when Nudo was GM of the Arizona Rattlers.

"He keeps everybody working hard and striving for the same goal," said Nudo, who's been a coach and executive in the AFL for over 20 years. "I've known Bob for so long. I couldn't ask for a better job (from him). He's the coach of the year in my eyes."

The respect McMillen has for Nudo is mutual.

"I'm learning more and more every day," McMillen said. "I'm learning from my assistant coaches; I'm learning from my players. I've got a great mentor in Gene Nudo. He's walking me through it every day so I'm just having some fun doing what we're doing.

"You couldn't ask for a better guy who wants to win, and is there every day for me if I've got questions. If he's got questions, we come to each other. We've got a good friendship and a good bond and it's just been a nice situation.

"We're winning; the guys are playing hard and that's all you could ask for."

The Rush has carried on a winning tradition ever since the team was founded in 2001. They've made the playoffs each season, except for 2009 when the league suspended operations because of the recession and rising league and team operational costs.

The AFL resumed play in the spring of 2010. There are currently 18 AFL teams, and it appears as if the league has gotten a handle on the financial issues that caused it to cancel the 2009 season. For example, the average salary for players in 2008 was $80,000; now players are paid $400 per game. Arena Football also has a TV contract with the NFL Network.

Yet both Nudo and McMillen concede there's work to be done to win back fans. According to the Web site, arenafan.com—billed as "the official site of Arena Football fans since 1998"—the Rush is averaging close to 8,500 fans per home date this season (prior to Saturday's game). That's in comparison to the team's average attendance of nearly 14,500 during its 2006 championship season.

"We have to continue to grow," Nudo said. "I think the one area with this club is that we need to get stronger in our community. It's easier to get to the masses that way. We need to spend more time with the kids.

"Our thing is we have players who are all under one-year contracts; they're all free agents so you don't know who's going to be here next year. I'm hopeful that we'll be stronger in the community and our group sales will grow because of that. Then we'll start getting those 12,13,000 a game like we used to."

"It's been a slow response, but last year was good, this year has been better and hopefully next year will be even better," McMillen said. "More and more people are starting to see that it's the same Arena Football that we played in '07 and '08; it's just that the salaries we were paying these guys (aren't the same).

"But the fans have been supportive. We had a Fan Club banquet for the players on Monday (July 18); we had something for the fans last night (Tuesday, July 19) so it's been very responsive and very good. We're turning out some pretty good attendance right now."

That uptick in attendance should continue in the playoffs, especially if the Rush gets on a roll and makes it back to the ArenaBowl—a goal McMillen believes the squad can attain.

"I think we've got just as good of a chance as anybody," he said. "We've got enough veterans and enough rookies on this team that are doing the right things, the little things that we need to do to win. It's who's playing well at the end, and right now we're playing pretty good. I like our chances against anybody. We're getting some injured reserve guys back for the playoffs and we're going to make a run at this thing."

Glenbard West's Schutt, Caspers Listed Among Top State Recruits on Rivals.com

Don't look now, but high school football practice begins two weeks from Wednesday (Aug. 10). There are plenty of Web sites devoted to ranking and scouting college football prospects, but Rivals.com is considered one of the most popular sites around.

The site lists two Glenbard West stars—defensive lineman Tommy Schutt and offensive lineman Johnny Caspers—in its Illinois Preseason Top 30 recruits for the Class of 2012.

Schutt, in fact, is listed as the No. 1 recruit, while Caspers checks in at No. 30. They are the only players from the central DuPage area listed by Rivals.

Schutt and Caspers have numerous scholarship offers on the table, but neither has made a decision on where they plan to play college football.

"Both are good players and they've worked hard and earned those rankings," said Glenbard West head coach Chad Hetlet. "We appreciate having those kids now in our program."