Rick Good, a proven leader with a history of building prep football program success, has been hired as Bishop Noll Institute’s head football coach and assistant athletic director, Principal Lorenza Jara Pastrick announced today.
A graduate of Chicago’s Mount Carmel High School, Good has 18 years of football coaching experience, including seven years as a head coach at Calumet and Lake Central high schools, where he increased victory totals year-over-year at each school.
“I am passionate about Catholic education and what sets it apart from other institutions,” said Good, a product of Catholic grade school and high school who has earned degrees from Calumet College of St. Joseph (B.A. in education) and Purdue University Northwest (B.S. in finance). “Bishop Noll appeared to be the perfect opportunity to return to doing what I love.”
Pastrick said Good stood out in a pool of 24 applicants.
“Rick just seems like the right guy at the right time for BNI,” Pastrick said. “This year our school theme is ‘We are in it to win it,’ and this hire is no different! I’m confident Rick will bring his knowledge, expertise and work ethic to bring our football program back as a competitor in the Region.”
Bishop Noll President Paul Mullaney said Good was considered the best candidate to continue the school’s momentum, which includes a 24-year enrollment high, the opening in 2020 of the school’s state-of-the-art STREAM Lab for its STEM curriculum, and the opening this past fall of Noll’s newly renovated stadium for football, soccer and track.
“I am immensely grateful to Mr. Mullaney, Mrs. Pastrick, Mrs. (Athletic Director Cindy) Wilson, and the Bishop Noll community for the opportunity to build on more than 100 years of success in multiple aspects of Catholic education,” Good said. “This, along with the recent renovations of the campus and athletic facilities, make it an attractive place to continue my career in education.”
Good was part of five state championships at Mount Carmel, three as a player (1998, 1999 and 2000) and two as an assistant coach (2012 and 2013).
He spent 11 years as an assistant coach under two region football legends – from 2007 to 2010 at Calumet High School under Ivan Zimmer, a 1964 Bishop Noll alum who played at Nebraska; and from 2011 to 2017 at Mount Carmel under Frank Lenti, who retired as the winningest coach in Illinois prep football history.
Hired as head coach at Calumet in 2017, Good grew the program from 3-7 in his first season to 9-2 in his third season. In year No.4, the COVID-shortened 2020 season, his Calumet team finished 5-2 and captured the school’s first and only football sectional championship. For his team’s accomplishments, Good was named coach of the year by The Times and Post-Tribune newspapers.
The next year, he was hired by Lake Central, where his teams respectively grew their records to three, four and five victories from 2021 through 2023. In his last season, LC posted its first playoff game victory since 2014.
Good inherits a BNI program that improved to 3-7 in 2024 but hasn’t won a sectional game since 2012 or a sectional title since the Warriors’ state championship season of 1989.
“I look forward to working with a diverse group of stakeholders not only on the Bishop Noll campus, but also in the city of Hammond, the Region and beyond,” Good said.
“I truly cannot wait to get started in continuing the strong tradition that precedes me by meeting with past, present, and future members of the Warrior football family to draw the roadmap for the exciting journey ahead.”