By Jori Parys
Aurora native Don Beebe went to the Super Bowl four straight years in the early 1990s with the Buffalo Bills, before finally winning a title with the Green Bay Packers. He’s also coached Aurora Christian High School to two state championships. Now he’s trying to win another title at Division III Aurora University.
Beebe has always felt a special connection with Aurora University, which he attended for a few months in college, playing on their basketball team.
“When I was asked to take this job, I was like, ‘No,'” he said. “That was the farthest thing from my [mind]. I thought I was actually going to go to the NFL, or a bigger school, Division I. I had those opportunities, and then it felt like I’m a faith-based man, and I felt like God wanted me to go over to this interview for the job, because they asked me, and I said, ‘Sure, let’s go.’ And I went into the meeting thinking, ‘No way.’ I came out of the meeting two hours later thinking, ‘Wow, I’m pretty intrigued by this. This sounds great. And I’ve loved it.”
Beebe is in his fifth season as head coach of the Spartans, guiding the team to its first-ever 11-0 record, heading into the second round of the Division III playoffs.
“I feel like we’ve had a chip on our shoulder since 2019, since we had that St. John’s [game}. Since that close game, we’ve been ready. We’ve been ready for the big moment,” said linebacker Marcellus Romous, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Even with nine years’ NFL experience, and playing wide receiver for six Super Bowl teams, Beebe said what makes coaching on the Division III level special is the players.
“It’s fun to coach. I’ll be honest with you, it’s fun to coach. You know, coaching prima donnas and divas and whatever you want to call it. I’m not saying there aren’t a lot of great guys at that [Division I or NFL] level, because there are, but you don’t find much of that at all at this level,” Beebe said.
“You don’t really see that a lot at college programs, where you have a former NFL guy, let alone a DIII program. So I think that definitely puts us a step ahead of everyone else we play,” freshman quarterback Tyler Adkins said.
For the team, learning from a Super Bowl champion is invaluable. Their only goal now is to bring Beebe a championship as head coach.
“Gotta keep taking care of business, you know? That’s our goal, obviously, to win by a lot in every game, but that doesn’t always happen. But it’s always our goal to just try to get better each game; work on things that we might not have done well in the past game, and then work on those and get better at that,” said wide receiver Trey Madsen.
“Just being around winning coaches and winning programs has just taught me how to win. I don’t take any credit for that. I just went out and picked great players with great character, and I think the rest just takes care of itself,” Beebe said.
As for Beebe’s future, he plans to be an Aurora Spartan for a long time.
“I love Aurora, always have, and so does my wife. Our families are all still here, and I come from a huge family of 60, and they’re all within 20 minutes of each other,” he said. “I see myself doing this for quite some time yet.”
Starting quarterback and NACC Offensive Player of the Year Ian Luyando was injured last week, so Adkins takes over under center on Saturday against University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
If they win, and North Central College wins against Trinity University, the two Chicago-area teams will face each other in Naperville in the quarterfinals. North Central is the defending Division III champion.