Coach Greg Bennett is a legend in central Illinois coaching. He spent most of his career at Lewistown, coaching almost every sport at one time or another.
No matter the sport, his teams always reflected his personality- they were unrelenting competitors.
I have asked some former players and coaches to share their experiences with Coach Bennett.
Ethan Mikulich- Lewistown Player
My name is Ethan Mikulich and I had the privilege to play football for Coach Bennett from 2015 to 2018. Coach Bennett’s dedication to breaking down film to make our weekly ready sheets really set his defense up for success every week. Now, being friends with a few former rivals, I do not believe they had anything like our ready sheets. For anyone who has the pleasure of knowing Coach Bennett, knows his unique character, which carried into his ability and passion for coaching. One specific to football and being the defensive coordinator were the pure enjoyment for Coach Bennett to see one of his players plow over an opponent. This leads to a pre-game film he would play for his teams after school. We would meet in his classroom and watch some of the NFL’s greatest hits from different seasons across all decades.
I know Coach Bennett has left an impact on every player he’s coached throughout his career. He pushes you to another level you may not have known you had and drives you to be better every single day. He was also just as tough on players to excel in the classroom and be leaders and role models in the school for the younger generations to look up to. He held his players accountable and to high expectations in the sports he coached, but even more so for his players in school. I know personally that the standards he held his players and students to made them excel in the sport, classroom, and life.
Rachel Row- Lewistown Player
I played basketball for Bennett and was a student in his classroom from 2002-2006. I also was a co-worker from 2010 until he retired in 2021. Now, he has returned as a substitute teacher where he very frequently subs in our elementary school building. My husband also was an assistant football coach with Bennett for 15 years.
I feel that Coach Bennett was successful in his coaching due to his knowledge and love of the game. He is an avid film analyzer which helps him be very prepared for his games, no matter what sport he's coaching. He is also successful because of relationship with his students and athletes. He has a gruff but funny personality that people, especially high schoolers, really love. Everyone was either motivated by him or a little intimidated by him which both worked in his favor.
As far as practice routines, we always had a set plan each day. We knew what was expected of us from each practice. We watched films before big games and did a lot of scrimmaging using what we knew about the opposing team. It helped us be more prepared and less nervous for the unexpected.
Greg Bennett has always made a big impact on my life. As a teacher and coach, he was a leader and someone you could always depend on to be predictable and routine. As a co-worker, Bennett is constantly making people laugh and keeping things fun. Who would have thought that Greg Bennett would be so amazing with kindergarteners and first graders?? But he is!! They love him and it inspires me. And now I can say that I refer to Bennett as one of my close friends. Not many people can say that about their former mentors, but I'm very lucky.
My favorite practice memories were our early morning Saturday practices when no girls wanted to be there but Bennett would blast his Bruce Springsteen which we all said we hated but we secretly loved. It made the day more enjoyable for everyone.
Anna Heffren- Lewistown Player
I played for Coach Benny from 2016-2020.
He loved for his players and hated ALL opposing teams.
He taught me the value of hard work, consistency, and always staying humble. For someone that thought losing 1 game in a basketball season was the worst thing that could possibly happen, he taught me that it was a good thing to keep our team humble and motivated to keep getting better.
My favorite memories have to be going to state with coach. There was seriously no dull moment of playing for him tho. Winning was of course the best at the time, but the memories I hold onto most are all the enjoyment and fun I had playing for Benny.
Paige Bennett- Lewistown Player (and More)
My name is Paige Bennett, and I played basketball for Coach Bennett from 2015 to 2019. However, I've had him as a coach my whole life, as I am his youngest daughter. So, roughly 24 wonderful years.
My dad may have had the reputation of being gruff and scary while coaching boys' football, but his “sensitivity” and humor truly shone when he was coaching girls' basketball. Although he did yell quite a lot, he always knew when to take a softer/kinder approach when dealing with teenage girl emotions. He genuinely cared for all of his players and recognized that every single person on the team played a vital role in our collective success. His dedication and effort were evident in everything he did. When he wasn't at practices or games, he was scouting, watching films, and devising new plays. He never missed a practice or game, with the sole exception of my birth during the 2000 Fulton County Tournament, where he, unfortunately, had to leave early to meet my mother at the hospital.
Some of my favorite “inspirational” quotes from my dad that have stuck with me into adulthood are: “Life’s tough. Get a helmet.”; “Pull your cranium out of your rectum.”; “We are vertically challenged.” and, of course, our huddle break, “Balls!” But, my all-time favorite quote from him is "No retreat, no surrender," taken from one of his favorite Bruce Springsteen songs. This was my dad's ringtone for years when he was still using his beloved flip phone. We had just lost our first-round state tournament game to a fantastic Danville Schlarman team and were in the media room for post-game interviews. I was answering a question when my dad's phone rang. He didn't apologize for interrupting me but instead held his phone up to the microphone and let everyone in the room hear his ringtone. He then spoke about how we were lucky to still have the opportunity to end our season with a win in the postseason.
He emphasized how we kept playing and never gave up, and that even though we lost, we should be proud of how hard we played. Even though we were all disappointed, he knew how to look on the bright side and applaud us for our effort throughout the season. We never gave up and we didn’t go down without a fight. Although I would have liked to finish answering the question, I will always remember that song and the message behind it.
My dad supported me in everything I pursued and instilled in me the importance of commitment and giving my best effort. He was always a very busy man when I was growing up, but I had witnessed the strong relationships he built with his former players and eagerly anticipated having that experience myself. He never disappointed. High school will always hold a special place in my heart because it afforded me so much time with my dad. I never avoided him; if anything, I sought him out constantly and made sure to take all of his classes. I am lucky to still have him as my coach in adulthood. He always gives me great advice, but I’m sure that he wishes that I would implement his advice more often instead of him “feeling like a broken record.”
Some of my favorite memories are from our summer basketball leagues. The team really got a chance to bond and have fun without the pressure of the regular season. My dad would let us run plays that we wouldn’t during the regular season. He even let me be the point guard once, which turned out to be not the best idea and was not repeated. My favorite practice memory is whenever he would get out the blocking pad. He would stand on the block and have us practice making contact and shooting. As you can imagine, he was a lot stronger and sturdier than a high school girl, but we tried our very best to knock him over by running full speed. None of us were ever successful, but this drill helped us a lot to not be afraid of contact and to bounce back. If you get knocked down, just keep getting back up.
Jake Green- Lewistown Player & Coach
Jake Green- TE & OLB- Played for coach in 2000,2001,2002,2003. I worked with coach from 2008 to 2015.
He prepared like no other. He spent hours preparing us, we always went hard. He made you work and get the best out of you. You wanted to succeed for him.
The pregame ready sheets. I still have some. I loved them.
He had a huge impact and still does. Love hanging around him and catching up. He is a legend.
I have so many great memories. My freshman year we were in hell week and I was nervous and not in the best shape. I got destroyed that week and wasn’t sure if I had it in me to play linebacker for the famous Coach Bennett. We were doing drills and as I was running through the bags he hit me with a forearm pad/bag and knock me straight on my back. It looked like is was levitating. It was the hardest I’ve ever been hit to that point and it’s because I didn’t see it coming. He had been on me all week to keep my eyes up and well I found out why that was so important. He bent over and looked at me over top his eye glasses that were barley on his face, sweating profusely, whistle swinging and in his Coach Bennett tone said, “WELCOME TO THE NFL”
Best game memory was beating the Aledo Green Dragons in the playoffs my senior year. He was so pumped up and prepared. I left it all on the filed that day and the joy of victory my teammates and I felt for the coaching staff and Lewistown fans is something that will always stick with me.
Cory Row- Lewistown Player and Coach
My name is Cory Row and I graduated from Lewistown High School in 2004. I had the privilege to play football for Coach Bennett from 2000-2004 and then returned as an Assistant Coach alongside him for an additional 14 years until he retired.
My class and those around us were incredibly fortunate to play for Lewistown during a time when there hall of fame (awarded later) coaches in football, basketball and baseball. Sadly, it seems we live in a world nowadays where we are getting farther and farther away from coaches who spend 30 years with a single school or program. Coach Bennett coached multiple sports for as long as I can remember and it always amazed me how he could go from being an intimidating, hard-nose football coach to finding his fire in a different way on the basketball court for girls’ basketball. I think that says a lot about his versatility as a coach and how he was able to connect to different kids in different ways.
Whether it was mid-August and 90 outside or we were making a deep playoff run into November, you weren’t going to see Coach Bennett in anything other than shorts and a backwards hat on the football sideline. I promise you anyone who ever played for him still remembers the weekly “ready sheet” quite vividly. The multiple page packet that every player got with full opponent scouting breakdowns always amazed us as players but it wasn’t until I became an assistant coach I really understood.
I can’t put a number on how many hours of film we watched on Friday night and then he watched alone the rest of the week to make sure he put our kids in the best position to succeed. We might not have always come out ready to play but I can guarantee it wasn’t because he wasn’t ready. I was lucky enough to spend the last several years of my high school football coaching career as Coach Bennett’s defensive box guy and talked to him every game on the headset.
I would love to share some of the common quotes, dialogue, and stories but we better keep this PG. I remember a common line he would use if the other team would make a big play or if we blew was, “I should have joined the Peace Corps”.
Personally, he was so much more than a coach. He and our head coach were the sole reason I decided to come back home and get into coaching. I lost my dad when I was 12 and he met and Coach Winkler soon after. They became mentors to me and provided so much advice outside of football. Guys like him put Lewistown on the map and continue to impact various towns through his coaching tree.
Some of my favorite post-game memories were being uptown having a beer with the staff, decompressing from the stress of the game. So many former players and students would come up to Coach and tell him how he was their favorite coach or teacher and how their life turned out better because of his impact. Life can take you many different directions without solid leaders keeping you on the right path and I am forever grateful I had Coach Bennett in my corner.
Angie Beebe- Lewistown Player
Bennett is passionate about being the best and knowing what makes you the best. He hammered competitiveness in and out of you without you even realizing it. He also made things fun. His random babbling about ridiculousness broke up the monotony of the work. The screaming and whistle blowing for no reason just made you laugh.
At the end of every practice we would have to shoot and make so many free throws in a row to go home. He’d yell 10 in a row to go… then he’d decrease the amount until everyone got out the door. It hammered in the importance of making free throws while tired at the end of the game.
We are still close. He is like a second father to me. I’ve gone back to him for advice in my adult years many times as well as he is a close friend know that I’m 40. He will always be a big part of my life, my high school career and life now would not be the same if he had never stepped in my senior year and take the head coaching position. I still think about him when making some decisions to this day.
A few fav memories
- we were losing to a very bad I think Cuba team at half time. He came in barely said anything just threw a bunch of basketballs at us and told us to go start over. We knew we were in big trouble without him even having to yell at us!! went out and re did our warm ups and got back on track.
- he told us at one halftime to pull our craniums out of our rectums and was quoted in the paper by Wes Huett after the game for that one
- in the journal star player of the year article he said “Angie was the little engine that pulled this team” I’ve remember that to get through other times in my life to push through
Morgan Bennett- Lewistown Player (and More)
Greg Bennett was my high school basketball coach from 2012 to 2016. He
also happens to be my father—so he’s really been my life coach since 1998.
As a high school girls’ basketball coach, Mr. Bennett instilled more than just on-court skills. He taught us the value of hard work, the importance of showing respect—to opponents, referees, and fans—and above all, the joy of playing the game. He took coaching seriously, both on and off the court. At times, he wore many hats: coach, bus driver, team scout, statistician, equipment manager, and even athletic director. His dedication went beyond basketball—it was about giving us the best experience possible and helping us grow, not just as athletes, but as people.
I always loved when Coach Bennett let us play 3-on-3 during practice. He’d bring out all the different colored penny jerseys and mix us into unexpected trios, which made the games more fun and competitive. Coach Bennett’s most memorable ‘quote’ wasn’t really a quote at all—it was how he ended every huddle with a single word: ‘Balls. No changes, no questions—just ‘Balls’ every time, without fail.
Greg Bennett gave me my love for basketball. It started when he put a hoop in the driveway, signed me up for biddy basketball, and took me to father-daughter basketball camps at the University of Wisconsin. He drove me all over central Illinois for traveling tournaments and eventually became my coach—winning and losing right alongside me. Now, at 27, I still play on a rec team, and I look forward to calling him after every game.
Some of my favorite memories come from summer basketball games. Without the pressure of the season, everything felt more relaxed—we played hard, but we also laughed a lot. Mr. Bennett never let us forget that effort still mattered, even in the off season. To keep us motivated, he’d make friendly wagers: if we played hard and gave our best effort, we could pick where we’d stop for dinner on the way home. Suddenly, playing good defense felt a lot more important when Taco Bell was on the line. It was his way of ensuring we stayed focused, all while making great memories as a team.
Sydney Schaeffer- Lewistown Player
Sydney Shaeffer, played for Coach Bennet 2016-2020.
I think Coach Bennet was so successful because of the environment that he built for his team. The environment in basketball was always fun, he always had goofy comments to throw out. Having a fun environment makes the team close knit, we rarely had an issues between players on the team and I think this makes the team successful. He promoted we were all on the same team and that made us want the best and work hard for each other.
On Saturday morning practice we would get to listen to music at practice, but it was always Mr. Bennett music, none of the music us girls liked (it eventually grew on us!).
He made practice an environment where we could make mistakes and learn from them, this helped me grow into the best player I could be. He helped me see my potential. He believed and trusted in me when I was an underclassman which built leadership characteristics that I still carry with me today.
My favorite game memories with Coach Bennett were when we went to state my senior year.
Joey McLaughlin- Lewistown Player and Coach
Joey McLaughlin, played football for Coach Bennett from '98-99 through '01-02. Coached with Benny from '15-16 through '20-21, then pulled him from retirement to be my assistant in '23-24.
Greg Bennett is an enigma. I was lucky enough to see both sides of his coaching career. Many would say Benny was a two completely different people between football and basketball. In football, he was an intimidating force that would bend you to his will to help your performance. The strong would survive, which is pretty essential in football. He would push you to your limits physically and mentally, because that is exactly what the game of football and life will do to you. In basketball, he was more easy going and went with the flow, which is, essentially, how the game should be played. He would preach execution of the small details in both sports. In the end, his superior intellect, wit, and vast vocabulary made him a coach that everyone loved and wanted to play for.
Benny's attention to detail was second to none. His pregame ready sheets were something that should be enshrined in Canton, OH. In basketball, he would never use timeouts. If he called one in the first half then you know something is drastically wrong. Timeouts are saved for the end of the game for the pressure situations that need to be talked about or other strategic uses to stop the clock. Benny also always listened. No matter if he wanted to utilize what I had to say or not, he would listen and give his assistant coaches a voice.
Trying to put Benny's impact on me into words is very difficult. He has been a mentor in every aspect of my life. I have had many phone calls with him to talk me off a cliff or to give advice throughout my life, some of which may or may not have always been used due to the legality of the advice given. Even after his retirement, we still have family dinner nights, sour tastings, and wine tour trips.
My daughter, Joley, is a junior this year so she never got to have Benny in the classroom or on the court, except for the brief time he helped me as an assistant, so I try to find as much time for her to be around him as I can so she can learn some of Benny's best musings. My son, Barker, who Benny has nicknamed Sir Charles Barker, is 6 months old. He will also grow up knowing the impact Benny has had on me.
There may be too many moments for me to put into words.
- Not sure if this is a true story or not, but it came from my mother. In 8th grade, I was a 5'6, 100lb CB. We were playing PORTA who had a 6'1 200lb RB. He turned the corner on my side as I was running full speed and launched myself at him, putting him on his back. Benny made a comment along the lines of "that kid can play D for me in the future." My mom probably regrets telling me that as it only fed my balls-to-the-wall nature of playing any sport I was in....and may have led to a few concussions along the way.
- My JR year we made the playoffs as the 29th seed and had to play the 4th seed, Oakland, on the road. Benny went on the local message boards to anonymously talk trash about us posing as an Oakland fan. He then printed the comments and put them in our ready sheets for motivation. We ended up winning 7-0 for the schools first ever road playoff win and first ever playoff shutout.
- Benny welcomed my daughter to the bench as an elementary and middle school kid. He knew how important it was for me to have her there growing up in the program. He may have even been more pissed off than me that IHSA wouldn't allow her on our bench during our State runs, even though she was listed as a manager.
- Benny is not a huge hugger, but giving him a hug after each Sectional and Super Sectional Title was pretty special.
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