Deandre Mosley learned football from a Public League legend and hopes to impart some of that knowledge in his new role.
Mosley, who played under Elton Harris at Hubbard, is the new head coach at Kennedy. Formerly the JV coach, he was promoted when the Crusaders parted ways with Rob Albano after three seasons.
Harris led Hubbard
“A lot of the stuff I’m going to bring to Kennedy is stuff we did at Hubbard,” said Mosley, who later went on to play four years of college football at Division II Kentucky State.
The Crusaders are coming off the best three-year run in program history. They were 19-10 under Albano, including back-to-back 7-3 seasons and IHSA playoff berths in 2024 and ’25. Before that, Kennedy had just one state playoff appearance.
“I was definitely supporting Albano,” Mosley said. “When they were looking for a new coach, I stepped up.”
Kennedy won the Public League White Southwest title in 2024 and finished second in the conference to Ag. Science last season.
Mosley, who also has been Kennedy’s wrestling coach for eight seasons, credits the program’s recent success to a shift in mindset.
“Kids (were) buying into the vision Albano had for the program,” he said.
Mosley aims to build on that success.
“I told the kids seven wins is the minimum (expected going forward),” he said.
Getting bigger and stronger is a goal. “The weight room is going to be key for us,” Mosley said.
There’s plenty of experience projected to come back this fall. “The whole offensive line came back and we’re only missing one defensive lineman (from 2025),” Mosley said.
The Crusaders’ top two quarterbacks last season were junior Mason Rychetsky, who also is one of the city’s best baseball players, and sophomore Alexander Hernandez. Other impact players expected back include juniors Kavarion McCarter, Victor Sandoval and Jacob Tunstill.
“It definitely helps out when the seniors and juniors are buying in (to the program vision),” Mosley said.