Varsity football practice comes to an end as the sun sets on Huntley High School.  Players and coaching staff huddle around head coach John Hart, as they do at the end of every practice, to discuss the day’s successes and failures.

120 tired and sweaty teenage boys are all praying they will not hear their name called out on the list being read aloud.  It contains the last names of players who were late getting out onto the field for practice, as well as those guilty of other minor offenses.  The few called will join Ricky Crider, who coaches the running backs, after practice for an additional consequence workout.

The infamous “Crider roll,” Crider’s signature abdomen workout where players literally roll on their stomachs across the length of the 100-yard football field, is one of the most dreaded sentences.

There is no denying whatever task is handed to them will be brutal, but the players do not appear to be too upset.

“He’s hard on us, but it’s only to make us better and because he loves us,” said senior running back Jake Scalise. “He’s always there to teach us something new.”

Coach Crider has attended more than enough football workouts himself to know exactly what to do to push the boys just far enough.

In the town of Evansville, Ind., at Reitz High School, Crider had a football career that many can only dream of.  Led by current Huntley head coach John Hart, Crider scored 85 touchdowns and had more than 6,400 rushing yards over the course of his four years there.

“I grew up in a rough neighborhood of Evansville, and at the time I was looking for an outlet,” said Crider.

“I was always into football, since the age of six,” he said, but he really began to focus on it in middle school.

“My mom and dad are separated. My dad has always been working two jobs, my mom has always been working two jobs. I have four sisters, one brother. I’m very close to my family, especially my mom, I’m a ‘mama’s boy,’ I would do anything for her,” he said with a smile.

“At the same time, I love my dad for what he provided me… teachin’ me how to be a man, teachin’ me the ins and outs of football… even though he was hard on me. He would make me get up at 5:30 in the morning and make me do running back drills in middle school,” he said.

Coach Hart first witnessed the talent in Crider as an eighth grader, and demonstrated his faith in the young running back when he started Crider as a freshman on the varsity team.

Together, the two were unstoppable. Senior year Crider committed to Northern Illinois University and was granted a full scholarship. His future never looked so bright. Sadly, on Oct. 20, 2007, it would change forever.

Six seconds into NIU’s game at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, ambulance lights flashed over the alarmed faces of the Saturday crowd.  One of Crider’s teammates was hit so hard on kick off he fell into Crider’s right leg, and that was it.  Both Crider’s tibia and fibula bones were broken.

“After that, I never really was the same player. I never felt the same whenever I ran,” said Crider.

Most of us would spend weeks, maybe even months, feeling sorry for ourselves, but not Crider.  He simply changed his perspective on the events he was faced with.

“For the first time, I started to think about what the world had to offer besides football,” said Crider.

After all, his education was still being paid for. He had the opportunity to create something special with the college years he still had left ahead of him.

Injury was not the only thing that turned Crider’s world upside down at NIU. A school shooting in 2008 brought him within a few steps of tragedy. His own classroom was connected to the building through a single hallway. Crider said the event taught him how short life can be, and “to do what you can while you have it,” which that is exactly what he did.

Crider began to embrace plan B: coaching. He could not leave the game of football after all it had done for him. It helped to shape the values that make him who he is today.

On graduation day, Crider got a call from an old friend.  He had stayed in touch with Coach Hart on and off the field since high school.

“We were close from the get go… he called me and I called him if I ever needed anything,” Crider said.

Hart called with the news of a job opening at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis where Hart was head coach to his youngest son, Derek Hart (coach for varsity quarterbacks).

With no time to even debate the offer, Crider packed his things.

It did not take long at all for Crider to fall in love with coaching. On and off the field, he says his number one goal is “to help any kid he crosses paths with.” He works as a behavioral aid at Huntley and says he takes the same approach in the classroom that he does on Friday nights.  It is clear he wants to help out in any way possible, whether it be reading a test aloud to a student or by helping them through a personal issue.

“I grew up in a tougher neighborhood than anybody around here, so I know how far that help can guide you because Coach Hart was that help to me.”

As a coach, he explains all he wants is to help the kids improve and be a good friend and mentor to them. Clearly, Crider is successful.

“I could not ask for a better coach,” said senior running back Mitchell Kawell. “I am really thankful for him.”

It takes a special person to have a heart as open and forgiving as Crider’s. It is apparent how much he cares for each of his students and players, as well as his family and friends.  He hates no one in this world, even from the past, because there is no point to it.

“We are who we are,” said Crider.

His outlook is the same every day, he says, “whether it’s a bad day and I don’t want to be here or a good day from my standpoint.”

Rarely will you see Crider without a smile.