St. Joseph football coach Jim Kenesie will have a Hall of Famer on his coaching staff when the season kicks off in the fall.

After stepping away from the program in 2004, former head coach and current St. Joseph principal Bob Freund has agreed to return to the sideline as the Lancers’ offensive coordinator.

Freund’s successful coaching career will be recognized on Saturday when he is inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame at a dinner and ceremony at the Marriott Madison West in Middleton. Freund is one of 19 inductees.

The Fond du Lac native joins Chuck Jaskwhich (Bradford) and Ron Davies (Tremper) as the only Kenosha coaches in the WFCA Hall of Fame.

“I couldn’t be happier for Bob,” said Kenesie, who plans on attending the festivities. “He has mentored me a lot.

“We’re very excited to have him back. He’s a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach. Obviously, it makes sense to have him on our staff.”

Freund, the school’s winningest coach, compiled a record of 107-61 (.637) in two stints at St. Joseph from 1981-84 and 1993-2004.

His teams qualified for the state playoffs 12 times and won the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association Division-2 title in 1994. The Lancers were also the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division-5 runner-up in 2001.

Freund left the sideline in 2004 primarily to follow the collegiate career of his son, Danny, who recently capped a stellar two-year run as the starting quarterback at the University of North Dakota.

“After the season ended, Jimmy wanted to know if I had an interest,” Freund said. “Now that Danny’s done and being away for four years, I’ve got a little bit of an itch.”

In his four years away from the sideline, there were aspects of coaching that he missed.

“Practicing with the kids,” Freund said. “Being out there on the practice field. Obviously, you miss the competitive nature of the games.”

And then, there were the things that he didn’t miss.

“The weekends,” Freund said. “The time you put into game planning on Saturday and Sunday. That I never missed, but I guess I’m ready to dive back into it again.”

Freund wanted to stress that he is not returning to be the head coach or a co-head coach.

“No, no, no,” he said adamantly. “It’s Jimmy’s program. He’s the head guy. I’m very cognizant of not stepping on his toes.”

With Freund’s return, that gives the Lancers three assistant coaches in the building at St. Joseph. Athletic director Mike Fisher and first-year physical education/health teacher Andy Mocadlo are also in-house. Mocadlo, a former All-American running back at UW-La Crosse (2000-2003), has been an asset in the weight room and is “a very knowledgeable strength and conditioning guy,” according to Kenesie.

“I think that will help the whole situation,” Freund said. “I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve got a challenge in front of us. It’s no different than what we’ve had in the past.

“I think the kids just have to understand the importance of working at something 12 months of the year. That’s for all the sports here. If they can understand the importance of getting in the weight room and the role that plays …

“Twenty years ago, you used to be able to get an advantage on people. Now you have to do that just to be on an even playing field with them. Hopefully we can get some of that stuff in line and get this thing turned around.”