With a New Coach Comes a New Attitude for This Year’s Football Cubs

Madison Consolidated High School’s football program for the 2024-2025 season looks bright, with new additions including Head Coach Charles Benintende, running back Joseph Stanley, and a refreshed team attitude. After a five-year tenure with the Cubs, former Head Coach Leroy Wilson resigned, finishing with a career record of 12-38. The community holds high hopes for the upcoming season, aiming for Madison’s first winning record in a decade.

Coach Benintende, originally from Louisiana, brings a wealth of experience to the team. He previously lived and coached in Chicago, Illinois, with a coaching portfolio that includes positions at Maranatha Baptist University (two years), Olivet Nazarene University (two years), Riverdale High School (three years), and the University of Wisconsin (three years) where he served as both offensive and defensive coordinator.

Since his arrival, Coach Benintende has been working to change the mindsets of his athletes, pushing them to new levels of performance with a focus on instilling a winning attitude.

“I had to change the mentality to a winning mentality ’cause it seems like a lot of the sports here, you know when a team got down, they were deflated. The body language, the mannerisms, and everything was okay; here we go, losing again, same old, same old,” Benintende said.

“So I attacked that first when I got here. Changed the mentality of the football players to ‘They belong,’ ‘We are a winning franchise’…I had to change that mindset that we belong; we know how to work with every team we play and outperform them,” he added.

To keep this mentality alive throughout the season, Benintende emphasizes various team mottos to the athletes.

“It’s a family. So we have all the letters in ‘family’ capitalized, except for the ‘I.’ The ‘I’ is small because I am not as important as the family is. We take out the ‘What’s in it for me’ in the equation because it is not about me, it’s about the family,” Benintende stated.

“We talk about the 1/11 on the football field. We all have to do our 1/11 because there are 11 football players out there, so I have my job I have to do. We have another motto of 9/5/90. There are nine players within five yards of the ball 90 percent of the time on defense,” he explained.

The team also welcomes junior running back Joseph Stanley, who transferred from Janesville Craig High School in Wisconsin. Stanley’s experience with the team has been different from his previous school.

“The team is like a family. Everybody is a part of the team,” Stanley said.

Despite being new, Stanley has quickly integrated into the team’s dynamic.

“They have been good teammates, and I appreciate all of them. They’ve given me rides to practices and a tour around Madison. Coach has made me more mentally tough. I feel like sometimes I tend to give up, but now I don’t give up anything,” Stanley added.

Senior Jake Dyer, a wide receiver for the Cubs, also noted the shift in the team’s mentality.

“The biggest change so far, I think, has been the team’s mentality. We aren’t looking to just win a couple of games, but we are actually trying to win sectionals and bigger things like that,” Dyer said.

Kyle Pettit, an MCHS senior and a defensive end and offensive tackle, observed significant changes in the team’s offensive strategy under Coach Benintende.

“Our offense has changed a lot. It’s less from a Wing-T formation to a spread offense. So we are airing out the ball more and getting to the endzone more efficiently,” Pettit said.

With these new changes come heightened expectations. The Cubs have set their sights on a Sectional Championship, bolstered by a favorable sectional draw.

“The expectation is to be sectional champions. My football team knows it’s going to be kind of rough in the beginning because we are probably starting four or five freshmen. We have a favorable sectional draw that we have and that is just three games we need to win sectionals, and that’s what we are shooting for,” Benintende stated.

Key players to watch this season include Dyer, Stanley, Taytem Anderson, a senior running back and linebacker; Izik Roberts, a sophomore wide receiver and strong safety; Bryson Copeland, a freshman wide receiver and cornerback; Jason Cosby, a senior offensive tackle and defensive nose; and Segar Ralston, a freshman cornerback and wide receiver.

With the additions of Coach Benintende and Joseph Stanley and a new team philosophy, the Cubs are hopeful for a turnaround in their football program. The Cubs won their first game of the season with a 20-14 win over cross-county rival Scottsburg last Friday. The Cubs’ next game is against South Dearborn at Cub Field this Friday at 7 p.m.