Ithaca football coaches, players, and fans like to refer themselves as one big family. But there are unique families within that one big family at Ithaca, one of which is the Hessbrook family.
Terry Hessbrook has a stunning 101-17 record over 10 years as Ithaca’s head football coach. Do the math, and it was 45-17 the first six seasons prior to the four-year run of 56-0.
Hessbrook’s tenure has been a family affair of sorts, with his brother Todd serving as an assistant coach. Todd’s son/Terry’s nephew Logan has been one of the outstanding performers over the years.
Logan called it a “great feeling” to play for his uncle as head coach and his dad as an assistant coach.
“I’ve got my little cousin [Brady Hessbrook] as a water boy,” Logan smiled. “There’s a lot of Hessbrooks out there on the sidelines. I couldn’t ask for a better family. My uncle and I, me and my dad, we have a strong bond. It’s tremendous. We’re working the off-season and watching film constantly. It definitely pays off.”
Logan is a defensive back, while his dad coaches the linebackers.
“He directly doesn’t deal with me, but he coaches me during the game as well,” Logan said. “ He’s a very knowledgable coach. [Terry] gives me pointers on how I can get better. Our coaching staff is tremendous in helping us on working on our weaknesses.”
Logan Hessbrook has played split end for the last three Ithaca state championship squads. He said the 2013 title would probably rank as the most memorable.
“We’re 14-0 for the fourth straight year. You play with your best friends you grew up with your whole life,” he said. “It’s the best group of friends I could ask for, plus the coaching staff and community. It’s amazing. Ithaca is a special place. Coach says it, and everyone says it. When I get out of college, I’m going to try to come right back to Ithaca. It’s amazing to live there.”
Logan caught six passes for 93 yards in the title game. Defensively, he had four solo tackles and two pass breakups.
In the second half, “their option was getting on the edge and their receivers were blocking strongly,” Logan said. “That was definitely some fits for us. Our coaches made some adjustments to make the outside linebacker go toward the pitchman instead of the quarterback.”
Terry Hessbrook enjoyed coaching his nephew. “We have a rule so-to-speak in Ithaca that our best players have to be our hardest workers,” Hessbrook said. “If our best players are our hardest workers, then everyone else will buy into it. It’s a pleasure to coach [Logan]. My brother Todd is one of the first people I hired when we put the staff together in 2004. He has a tremendous way of relaying what he wants done to his players. He has a tremendous rapport. He doesn’t work at the school. He works at Consumers Energy. He always says it’s the highlight of his day when he shows up at 3 p.m. The core of our staff has been here the entire time.”
Todd is 16 months older than Terry was only one year ahead in school. Both are Ithaca graduates.
They weren’t able to play football together. “There’s quite a story there,” Todd said. “That’s why football is so near and dear to my heart and why I’m so passionate about it. When I was 5, I had my left kidney removed. I grew up in a football family, and we played football every weekend in the fall in the front yard. I always said I’d be able to play football some day. When I hit ninth grade, I couldn’t get a physical for a contact sport. No doctor in the world would clear me for a contact sport, because I’ve only got one kidney.”
Hessbrook’s dad went to the Ithaca school administrators to get permission for his son to play freshman football as a punter and kicker and avoid all contact.
“I lasted four or five games and was actually getting involved in some contact,” he said. “I was a healthy kid and wanted to play football. They called me in the office and said ‘young man you may not realize it, but your life is more important than high school football.’ They kicked me off the freshman team and I never got to play again.
“I would always tell Terry that I used it for motivation to motivate him. When you can’t play high school football, that’s tough to deal with. When he hired at Ithaca, he came to me and said he needed coaches and asked me about it.”
Todd got his family’s blessing to take the job. He had coached three seasons in the late 1980s with Jim Ahern but hadn’t planned on returning to coaching until his brother got the Ithaca head job.
“I had two sons coming up that were going to play football, and if I was going to be in the program, I wanted to be in for the duration,” Todd said. “I didn’t want to be a parent that got in when your kid was in the ninth grade and got out when your kid leaves. I’m proud of the fact I’ve been here 10 years. I primarily work with the JVs. I work with the linebackers with the varsity and help Brad Showers [defensive coordinator] with the defensive plan and adjustments.”
Todd Hessbrook is among those coaches, athletes, and fans who never would have thought four years ago that a 56-0 run was coming up.
“I never could have imagined it, and I still can’t believe it,” he said. “I’m just so happy and blessed to be able to do it and to have two great sons and a great family. It’s Ithaca, and we’re on top of the football world right now.”