Daryl Illikainen Retires After 21 Seasons as HHS Football Coach

He will take a teaching position in Orono after spending two decades as the head football coach at Hermantown.

HERMANTOWN, Minn. – Daryl Illikainen has resigned as head coach of the Hermantown football team. The 52–year–old informed his team Wednesday during the final day of the UMD Team Camp at Malosky Stadium.

Illikainen accepted a teaching position in Orono which he says allows him to be closer to his two kids.

“As we kept talking about it, our daughter is getting married and we’ll have grandchildren in the near future. We thought “well let’s think about making a decision now rather than later,” Illikainen said.

When asked what he’ll miss most about the football program, he said it’s the relationships that have been built over the past two decades.

“That’s what makes it rewarding as an educator, those relationships with those kids and seeing them go on and be successful, as well as the memories of them and the wins and losses. You go through a lot with them and some championship teams. But certainly, all those kids throughout the years have just been special,” Illikainen said.