Welcome to Leo’s New Football Coach
Dr. Marques Stevenson joins the Leo team
Leo High School is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Marques Stevenson as head football coach, effective immediately. Coach Stevenson succeeds Mike Holmes ’76, who retired in November after more than 30 years of involvement with Leo football.
“Replacing Coach Holmes will be a monumental task, but in Coach Stevenson we feel we have a man who will help our young Leo Men reach their full potential as students, as athletes and as quality people,” Leo Principal Shaka Rawls said.
“We were gratified by the number of outstanding candidates who want to coach at Leo, and we gave careful consideration to all of them,” Mr. Rawls added. “In the end, Coach Stevenson impressed us as a really good fit for what we want Leo football to represent.”
Principal Rawls is a former Leo football player himself, having played for Coach Bob Foster before graduating in 1993. He went on to play at Aurora University.
Coach Stevenson, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Gulf War, will also be a member of the Leo faculty, responsible for expanding the Health curriculum and teaching Sociology.
As a coach, he has a Catholic League background, having worked most recently at St. Laurence High School as head sophomore coach and varsity offensive coordinator.
He held identical jobs at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, where many of the players he recruited helped the Spartans reach the semifinals of the IHSA Class 4-A playoffs in 2022.
He was defensive coordinator at St. Joseph’s in Westchester when the Chargers went 7-3 and played in the IHSA playoffs for the only time in school history in 2016. St. Joe’s closed its doors in 2020.
“I am truly honored and grateful for this opportunity,” Coach Stevenson said. “Leo has an amazing football history and great tradition, and there’s no reason why we can’t make some history of our own. I’m eager to get started.”
For that matter, he already has, having presented returning players with an off-season strength and conditioning program on the day he accepted the job.
Coach Stevenson grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Hercules High School in the East Bay town of Hercules, CA. He attended Hartnell Community College in Salinas before moving on to Culver Stockton College in Canton, MO., where he played football and earned degrees in psychology and sociology.
He also holds a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX., and a Doctorate in Sport and Performance Psychology from Western States University in Portland, OR.
“I’m a detail-oriented person, and I believe that it’s mastery of the little things that helps you win football games, so we will be prepared for anything that might come our way,” Coach Stevenson said. “I also strongly believe that football’s lessons carry over into everyday life, so I want to make sure their Leo football experience is a positive memory that our guys will take with them as they move on in life.”