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Benet Academy (IL) hires 3-time Super Bowl champion as head football coach

IMG_8358by: Andy Villamarzo11/20/25Andy_Villamarzo

Benet Academy of Illinois is ready to make a splash in the high school football world and the began with a bang of a hire on Thursday afternoon.

The Redwings’ football program announced via social media that they have made the blockbuster hire of 3-time Super Bowl champion James White, who starred at running back for the New England Patriots from 2014 to 2021.

β€œWelcome to The Academy, Sweet Feet! We have hired 3x Super Bowl Champion and 3x Big Ten Champion, James White, as our next Head Coach!β€œ

White since his playing days concluded in New England jumped into coaching starting in 2024 at Northern Illinois with player personnel and then this past season joined the University of Illinois as the assistant running backs coach.

The former St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) standout won Super Bowls in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with the Patriots under now-North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick. White played in 95 games for New England and finished his career running for 3,278 yards and scoring 25 touchdowns.

White takes over a Benet Academy program that is coming off a difficult 3-6 season, with the Redwings’ three victories coming in the early part of the campaign where they started 3-1. The Redwings ended the 2025 season on a five-game losing skid playing out of the IHSA’s Class 5A classification.

A school known more for their boys basketball team, which is ranked No. 2 in the Massey Ratings Illinois Preseason Rankings, the last time Benet Academy finished with double digit victories was in 2016 when the team went 10-3.

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