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Tony E. Lombardi (born January 29, 1962) is an American football coach. He served as the interim head football coach at Eastern Michigan University for one game in 1999.

Lombardi is the father of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Rocky Lombardi.

Playing career

Lombardi attended Rich East High School in his hometown of Park Forest, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago, graduating in 1980. While in high school, he played tailback on the football team, which was coached by his father, Bob Lombardi.

Lombardi played running back for the Arizona State University Sun Devils from 1980 through 1983, and was awarded a varsity letter for all four years of play. Lombardi went undrafted in the 1984 NFL draft and signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears. However, he did not make the team's roster.

Coaching career

Assistant coaching

After spending the 1985 season as defensive coordinator for his alma mater, Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois, Lombardi served as defensive backs coach for the Wisconsin Badgers while earning a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. From 1989 through 1996 he was the defensive coordinator for the NCAA Division II Mankato State Mavericks (now Minnesota State University).

In 1997, then-head coach Rick Rasnick hired him as the linebackers coach for the Eastern Michigan Eagles, and in the 1998 and 1999 seasons, he served as the team's defensive coordinator.

Eastern Michigan

The first ten games of the 1999 season were coached by Rick Rasnick, with Lombardi serving as defensive coordinator. Eastern Michigan athletic director Dave Diles Jr. fired Rasnick on November 16, and named Lombardi as the interim head coach, to serve for the final game of the season. Under Rasnick, the 1999 team had compiled a record of 4 wins and 6 losses. Lombardi's one game as EMU's head coach was a 24-30 loss to the Northern Illinois on November 20, 1999 that was played in DeKalb, Illinois.

High school

At the end of Eastern Michigan's 1999 season, none of Rasnick's assistant coaches were retained. In 2001, Lombardi became the head coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Homewood, Illinois, where his father had been coach in the late 1960s, and he quickly revitalized the struggling team. However, after just one season, Lombardi left Homewood-Flossmoor moving closer to his family who lived in Plainfield, taking over at Hinsdale Central High School in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.

After three seasons at Hinsdale Central, Lombardi was fired for using harsh language in front of players and assistant coaches. He moved on to Cedar Rapids Washington High School there he took on the responsibility of Head Strength and Conditioning coach, Head Football Assistant Track and was later the Head Baseball Coach. In 2013 following the baseball season, Lombardi resigned as Head Football and Baseball Coach and moved to West Des Moines to go into Medical Sales, following an out-of-court settlement with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners resulting in temporary suspension of his teaching license and coaching certificate.

His oldest son Rocky was a three-star Quarterback recruit in the Class of 2017 and would commit to Michigan State, where he was three-year letterwinner and would start 9 games for the Spartans before transferring to Northern Illinois in 2021. His younger son Beau would also be recruited to play Division 1 football as he would commit to Army, where he would switch from playing Quarterback to playing on the Offensive Line.

References

1. ^ "EMU's Rasnick Releived(sic) of Duties; Lombardi Named Interim Coach". MACSports.com. November 16, 1999. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
2. ^ Sakamoto, Bob (September 27, 2002), "Answering the cry", Chicago Tribune, retrieved January 21, 2011
3. "Arizona State Sun Devils, 1981-1995, who signed on with professional football teams". Tempe History Museum. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
4. DeLassus, David. "Coaching Records Game by Game-Rick Rasnick, 1999". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
5. DeLassus, David. "Coaching Records Game by Game-Tony Lombardi, 1999". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
6. Eastern Michigan Fires Rasnick, CBS News, 1999, retrieved January 21, 2011
7. 2008 EMU Football Media Guide (PDF), 2008, p. 48, Graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Homewood, Ill. where he played football for co-head coaches, Tony Lombardi, a former EMU football assistant, and Tom Bailey.
8. Hedger, Brian (August 22, 2003), Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings, retrieved January 21, 2011, Lombardi left behind a stellar group of players that included several Division I recruits, Freddy Barnes who played at Bowling Green, Xavier Fulton who played at the University of Illinois, Tim Johnson who played at Oklahoma and Brandon Balckom who played at Kansas State just to name a few. Lombardi returned the next year in the playoffs with his Hinsdale Central team to defeat the Vikings in the second round of the playoffs..
9. "Lombardi got more than slap on wrist".
10. "Lombardi got more than slap on wrist".
11. "Rocky Lombardi, Michigan State Spartans, Quarterback".
12. "Rocky Lombardi - Football".
13. "Beau Lombardi, Valley , Pro-Style Quarterback".
14. "Beau Lombardi - 2022 - Football".

• 1962 births
• Living people
• Arizona State Sun Devils football players
• Chicago Bears players
• Chicago Enforcers coaches
• Eastern Michigan Eagles football coaches
• Minnesota State Mavericks football coaches
• Wisconsin Badgers football coaches
• Wisconsin–Stout Blue Devils football coaches
• High school football coaches in Illinois
• High school football coaches in Iowa
• People from Park Forest, Illinois
• Coaches of American football from Illinois
• Players of American football from Illinois