Chicago Bears name Lockport Township’s George Czart High School Coach of the Year

Twitter photo by @BearsOutreach
gamestrat high school football sideline instant replay

George Czart, who led Lockport Township to its first Illinois high school football state championship since 2003, is the 2021 Chicago Bears High School Coach of the Year. The Porters, who won the Class 8A championship this year, finished the season ranked No. 103 in the High School America national rankings, powered by NFL Play Football.

Related: High School Football America national rankings

Czart becomes the Bears’ nominee for the Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year award that will be awarded at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas in February 2022.

“Being recognized as Coach of the Year and as a Don Shula nominee is an honor that I have to share with and give thanks to many people,” Coach Czart said in a new release from the Bears. “We, here at LTHS, have truly succeeded together to accomplish a great feat that the whole community can be proud of. I humbly accept the award on behalf of the community, administration, alumni, parents, staff, coaches and most of all the players that made it happen. Thank you to the Chicago Bears organization for recognizing that we, the Porter Nation, succeeded together.”

Czart took-over as the head coach at Lockport in 2019, after serving as the assistant coach at Lincoln-Way West High School. He was the defensive coordinator for Lockport from 1994-2006, during which time the Porters won two state championships in 2002 and 2003.

The year before Czart took-over the program, the Porters finished 0-9.

The Bears will make a $2,000 donation to the LTHS football program in Czart’s honor.

The Chicago Bears “Coach of the Week” program was launched in 1996. The “Coach of the Week” program honors outstanding Illinois high school coaches who develop players’ football skills and knowledge, character, leadership, discipline and teamwork abilities.

Deserving high school coaches are nominated by a panel of local prep authorities. Since the program’s inception, which also includes the “High School All-Star” program that began in 2011, the Bears have donated more than $326,500 to Illinois high schools in support of their football programs.

For more information, please visit chicagobears.com/community.

Click here to see what the Chicago Bears are doing in the community

2021 Chicago Bears Coach of the Week Winners

Week 8 – Gavin Johnston – Reed-Custer HS

Week 7 – Jake Brosman, Hampshire HS

Week 6 – Mike Fitzgerald, York HS

Week 5 – Matt Miller, St. Ignatius Prep

Week 4 – Corey Olson, Palatine HS

Week 3 – Dave Mills, Wauconda HS

Week 2 – Dennis Piron, Batavia HS

Week 1 – Peter Panagakis, Wheeling HS

2021 Chicago Bears High School All-Star

Week 8 – Aiden Cyr, Hoffman Estates HS

Week 7 – Jordan Anderson, Joliet Catholic HS

Week 6 – Zach Hinds, Riverton Academy HS

Week 5 – Chase Hanson, Mascoutah HS

Week 4 – Marco Maldonado, Loyola Academy

Week 3 – Hector Ramirez, Chicago Academy HS

Week 2 – Kaiden Miller, Grayslake Central HS

Week 1 – Hank Beatty, Rochester HS

Follow the Bears in the community on Twitter @BearsOutreach

Visit NFL PlayFootball at playfootball.nfl.com

Play Football

nfl play football

About the Author

Jeff Fisher
Jeff is an award-winning journalist and expert in the field of high school sports, underscored with his appearance on CNBC in 2010 to talk about the big business of high school football in America.Jeff turned to his passion for high school football into an entrepreneurial venture called High School Football America, a digital media company focused on producing original high school sports content for radio, television and the internet.Jeff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of High School Football America, a partner with NFL Play Football.