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Date: 8/23/2023
SPRINGFIELD — Like many people, Lou Conte Jr. is ecstatic that football season is finally here. He enjoys the excitement and rivalry, especially this year, as the former Agawam Brownie is now the new head coach for American International College’s Yellow Jackets.
Appointed earlier this year, his goal is to lead AIC to a championship season.
“I’ve always wanted to be a college head coach — and this is my first opportunity. I think there’s potential to be successful here,” said Conte, an Agawam native who has been a college football coach for nearly 20 years.
Conte’s equally delighted that his position allows him to return to his hometown. He and his wife, the former Jen Drudi of West Springfield, now able to live closer to their families and friends after years in the Southeast.
“We had a chance to come back home and have our kids be around their cousins and grandparents. We thought it was a perfect opportunity,” said Conte.
He said having a network of family and friends, especially with three young children, was a “big piece” of moving back and buying a house in Agawam.
“I also didn’t want to keep changing jobs so much in college coaching. I didn’t want to move my kids all over the place,” said Conte.
He has many fond memories of growing up in Agawam, especially since his dad, Lou Conte Sr., was the athletic director of the high school at the time.
“As a kid I loved just going to the gym or into the fields to play ball,” he said. “My dad always had the key, so basically, I had free rein over whatever I wanted to do.”
Because of his father, sports were a big part of Conte’s young life.
“I didn’t have much of choice, when I was younger,” he said. “It wasn’t an option. You didn’t volunteer — you were drafted. He’s competitive in his own way, and football is a big thing in Agawam.”
But Conte recalls that despite his dad serving as athletic director, he didn’t get any free passes playing football at Agawam High School.
“He was actually harder on me than other players,” Conte said. “My dad would get me away from everybody else at halftime if there was something he needed to express to me about how I was playing.”
A longtime and friendly rivalry between the Agawam Brownies and the West Side Terriers now includes his wife and his in-laws.
“I always make sure I have my Agawam coffee mug on full display in front of Jen and her family. And we always give our kids a choice of colors. Jen always wants to buy red and blue and I’m always trying to sneak in and change it to brown or orange,” said Conte.
The 40-year-old was previously at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator. He was with the NCAA Division I team from spring 2016 to November 2022, when he was named interim head coach.
The opportunity to serve as the head of AIC’s football program came just as Conte learned that — despite being instrumental in guiding the Bulldogs to a Southern Conference championship in 2016, consecutive Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances and a 2016 national rushing title — the military college fired its entire coaching staff late last year.
After landing the position at AIC, Conte worked to teach players how to develop positive leadership characteristics on and off the field during spring training. Conte also began hiring his staff for the fall season.
This summer, Conte recruited players and in early August started practice sessions with the team to prepare for the 2023 season that kicks off Sept. 2 against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils. The Yellow Jackets play at the NCAA Division II level and are members of the Northeast-10 Conference.
Working at AIC is also a bit of homecoming for Conte in another way. After graduating from AHS in 2001, he played football at Springfield College for four years. Later he became an assistant football coach at the Division III college — just down the road from AIC — for one season before joining The Citadel. His first college coaching job was offensive line coach at Maine Maritime Academy.
He went on to be an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. Conte helped the team win three consecutive South Atlantic Conference championships and reach the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2013.
Conte said he prefers coaching at the college level rather than at high school, as his dad did in Agawam for many years.
“When you’re a college coach, you’re a full-time coach,” he said. “You aren’t teaching physical education, you aren’t scheduling officials, or traveling and all the other hats you have to wear. I just want to coach football and nothing else.”
One of the things that he likes about football is the relationships and friendships that developed by playing the game.
“My dad told me right before I started playing in seventh grade at the junior high — and I never forgot it — that the sport is different than all the rest,” said Conte. “He said I would build closer friendships and better relationships playing football than anything else I will ever do. And he was absolutely right.”
Since Conte became a college coach, he’s used his father as a sounding board because of his coaching experience.
“I’m a competitive guy — and I tend to get worked up about certain things. The main thing I’ve learned from my dad is that nothing is as good or as bad as it seems. Reality falls somewhere in the middle. His basic thing was to get into a routine and don’t try to get too high and don’t get too low — stay steady every day.”
Conte, AIC’s 14th coach since the team was formed in 1934, plans to use that strategy in his quest to win a championship for the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s not an impossible challenge. The school wants to win and I want to win,” said Conte. “The president and vice president for athletics are behind me and will give me what I need. They want to help me get the team back to their championship years.”