Lumberjacks coach resigns

After more than 20 years with the Cloquet football program, head coach Jeff Ojanen has resigned. He told his team Nov. 20 about his decision. He said he wants to spend more time with his family.

"It really comes down to how priorities change in your life," Ojanen said. "When I took the head coach job three years ago I thought I'd be able to handle missing some stuff for my girls, but it got harder and harder. Right now, I want to see my girls play and help them and their teammates in any way I can."

Ojanen and his wife Nikki are the parents of two daughters who participate in soccer, hockey, basketball and gymnastics.

"I'll just be coaching at a different level," said Ojanen, who also had an eight-year run as a girls basketball coach in Cloquet.

He graduated from Cloquet High School in 2002 after playing on the offensive and defensive lines for the Lumberjacks. A year after graduating, he returned to the team as a coach.

Most of Ojanen's football tenure in Cloquet was spent as the defensive coordinator under longtime head coach Tom Lenarz. Ojanen took over as head coach in 2022 and guided his teams to a record of 12-17 in three years. His biggest win as head coach was in his first season, when the 'Jacks pulled off a huge 42-15 road win in the Section 7AAAA semifinals against a powerful Grand Rapids squad.

In 2017, Ojanen was defensive coordinator for a Lumberjacks team that went all the way to the state title game in Class AAAA. That season Ojanen was recognized as assistant coach of the year in the North East Red District.

"That was obviously a great memory, but the relationships with the kids are probably the No. 1 highlight, along with the guys I coached with and against," Ojanen said. "They become part of your extended family."

Among his accomplishments was having the top-ranked defense in the state in 2017 as well as being a part of the coaching staff that took the Lumberjacks to four state tournaments, quite a feat considering that Cloquet is among the smallest schools in Section 7AAAA.

Ojanen, who will continue in his job as a math teacher at CHS, was also an integral part of the committee that raised money to put turf on what is now Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium. Coach Ojanen was the co-chairman of that committee, which raised $1.5 million for the complex.

"I am proud of what the committee accomplished and the fact that we got turf on that field," Ojanen said.

Still, despite having made his decision Ojanen said it was tough to tell the players.

"It was hard and emotional," Ojanen said. "I graduated from Cloquet, I teach in Cloquet and I coach in Cloquet, so this school is so important to me. I think that's what made this decision so tough."