Scott Baum is a beloved teacher, coach and member of the Niles West community, and it was announced over the summer that he would be the head coach for the first girls flag football team in Niles West history. For those who benefited from Baum’s dedication and mentorship as a coach over the years, they saw this as good news.

History teacher DJ Kosiba coached football with Baum from 2010-2016. Kosibas’ first year of coaching was in 2010  and he was the head of the youth football program at Niles West.

“Scott Baum took me under his wing. This was my first coaching gig ever and he treated me like one of his crew. He and I spent at least six days a week doing free clinics and practices together for years,” Kosiba said.

Baum took Kosiba, other coaches and players under his wing to create a winning culture and program that was not previously implemented.

Weightroom coach Sam Shemroske was a former player of Baum from 2011-2015, which he benefited from.

“Stats wise we did pretty exceptional, we’re talking making it to playoffs my sophomore year up until my senior year, so we were always a successful program with coach Baum as our head coach,” Shemroske said.

Niles West made the playoffs three years in a row under the leadership of Baum.

Baum attended Gordon Tech High School but would often spend his time at Niles West because it was the closest football field to his house. He played four years of football and baseball at Gordon Tech and one year of basketball. He went to Wabash College in Indiana and played two years of football, which marked the end of his playing career.

He coached at Loyola College Prep as an assistant from 1989-1996. After coaching at Gordon Tech and De La Salle Institute, he was hired at Niles West in 2006 and was the head coach until 2017. By 2017 he began coaching at Loyola. In total Baum has been coaching football for 36 years.

Baum has been able to see how the game of football has evolved, especially at the high school level and has truly become a student of the game, but in classic Baum fashion, he is not satisfied.

“The fact that I’m in a point in my life where my youngest boy is a senior in high school and this is his last year playing football and I need something to do,” Baum said.

Even though Baum successfully coached tackle football, the skills do not translate perfectly.

“The hardest part about football is blocking and tackling and those are two things we don’t have to do. Everyone is a skill player in flag football, the flip side of that is that we’ll be playing twenty-something games, which is opposed to nine,” Baum said

Despite the differences that doesn’t mean that Baum won’t give it his all.

“It’s a lot different and I think this year I’ll learn a lot more than the girls do,” Baum said.

Baum has played an important role in the Niles West community and has had an impact on students, teachers and families. Kosiba believes this new role will be perfect for Baum.

“There are some people who have just found their calling, and that’s clearly [Baum’s] calling. He is so energized to give back to his community and that is truly a blessing,” Kosiba said.