HOOPESTON -- Chip Glass quickly realized his interview to become offensive coordinator of the Hoopeston Area/Armstrong-Potomac football team took too long.
Glass was looking to relocate from Alabama, where he coached in Birmingham for two decades, before the 2024 season. His criteria followed a simple objective of three goals.
"I wanted to be at a small school," Glass said. "I wanted to be at a rural school, and I wanted to be the (offensive coordinator)."
An easy connection with then-head coach Carrick MacDonald led to an hour-long interview with administrators. And Glass would have accepted the position had they addressed an important fact at the start of the proceedings.
"It'd have only taken two minutes if they'd have done it in reverse," Glass said. "At the end, I asked them, what is the mascot of the school? And they said Cornjerkers. I said, if you'd just said that at the beginning, I'd have said 'yes' then. Who the heck does not want to be a Cornjerker?"
Glass is set to replace MacDonald as the program's head coach this fall, with several key pieces of an offense that averaged just a little more than 18 points in 2024 returning alongside him.
A senior quartet of Cole Miller, Zach Huchel, RaSiah Jones and Nick Brown will lead the charge. Huchel threw 50 passes for the Cornjerkers in 2024, with Miller and Jones each catching one of his five touchdown passes.
Jones added five touchdowns on the ground, while Brown contributed 16 tackles on defense.
"We had a lot of new starters last year. We were very young," Huchel said. "Now, we've got a lot of upperclassmen on the line. We've got a lot of seniors starting this year. ... We have everybody ready. They know it's coming, and we know what to expect from each team. We're just ready now, and we're prepared."
Becoming a head coach wasn't something that Glass -- a diehard Alabama Crimson Tide fan -- necessarily had in mind when he moved north.
But knowing most of his players already has helped ease that transition.
"It's been an adjustment," Huchel said. "I've had to get to know (Glass) because he was my (offensive coordinator) last year. Now, he's my head coach. It hasn't been terrible. Nothing too overpowering that we can't just adjust to it real quick."
Glass mulled a return to Alabama during the offseason before considering the program's recent coaching turnover.
MacDonald took over for Matt Leskis in 2023, meaning an outside hire to replace MacDonald would have been the third major change for the Cornjerkers' seniors.
"I was debating about it, and in fifth period, I have athletes in my class," Glass said. "And I walked out and saw (two seniors). If a new coach comes in, that's going to be a third coach in four years. I couldn't let that happen."
Getting the program back to where it went in 2021 -- to the IHSA playoffs for the first time since 1993 -- is the top priority for Glass and the rest of the Cornjerkers' senior class.
"It'd mean a lot to me, personally," Miller said. "We haven't had a winning season while we've been in high school, so that would be a major improvement from the years prior."
Hoopeston Area/Armstrong-Potomac hasn't made it back to the postseason since that fall 2021 season. The Cornjerkers went 2-7 in 2022, then embarked on back-to-back 3-6 campaigns.
Huchel -- then in eighth grader -- remembers what it looked like when the community rallied around the 2021 Cornjerkers at a pep rally.
"It was just amazing to see all of them walk out as a collective team, matching, looking good," Huchel said. "They all felt confident. You could see it on their faces."
Getting the Cornjerkers back to the postseason for the second time in 32 years means surviving a grueling Vermilion Valley Conference schedule that opens at Iroquois West on Aug. 29.
Glass learned a thing or two about the conference during his year as an assistant. In his estimation, it stacks up favorably to the football he grew accustomed to in Alabama.
"Some very good, solid coaches," Glass said. "You've got some programs that have established themselves, and have that community backing. We want to be in that mix. We understand that in order to do that, we have to have a standard that allows us to be."
That standard reflects in the wristbands that players have worn throughout the offseason. The bands -- blue or white in color -- are inscribed with the words "Be Present."
"I'll tell the players, if you don't want to come to practice, let's think about this," Glass said. "I'll just use (my four back) as an example. I'll ask him, 'Hey, is Bismarck's four at practice? Is Salt Fork's four at practice? Is Momence's four at practice? Is Westville's four at practice?'
"Those are the guys that have kind of separated themselves. And we plan on joining that group. We have to at least be to that standard, and then a little more. Their efforts, their demeanor (and) their attitude have been tremendous."
Glass, for his part, said he is more present than ever within the Vermilion County community.
"I'm committed to this school and this town, and so about two months ago, I moved to Hoopeston," Glass said. "The town itself has been unbelievable. They have been very welcoming to me. There's not a lot of difference between the South and the Midwest, so I am fitting in well.
"The one thing though, that I hear constantly within 20 seconds of talking to somebody, is, 'You're not from here, are you?' I don't hear the difference, but I suppose everybody else does."