"Coach Nick" Reaches Out to Young Kickers at His 28th Annual Camp

June 25, 2008

June 25, 2008, Greencastle, Ind. - "I enjoy doing it or I wouldn't have been doing it this long," Nick Mourouzis tells the Banner-Graphic. The Greencastle newspaper features Mourouzis -- DePauw University's all-time leader in football coaching victories -- who held his 28th camp for kickers and punters in grades 6 through 12 at Blackstock Stadium last weekend.

"We always enjoy providing a kicking camp experience for the young men who are eager to learn and improve their own skills," Mourouzis tells the Greencastle newspaper. "Quite a few of them come back each year. It is really great, from the coaching standpoint, to watch the young men improve and to watch improvement from year to year," he says.

The man who led the Tiger football program for 23 years came to DePauw in 1981 after serving as an assistant at Northwestern, Indiana, Ohio, and Ball State universities. Mourouzis guided the Tigers to a 138-87-4 record before retiring at the end of the 2003 season. For three days, he and his staff work with campers on their fundamentals, but the legendary coach also stresses dedication to the young athletes.

"If the young men take pride in their kicking and return to their schools and continue to work hard, they can be as good as they want to be," Mourouzis states. "They can improve as much as they want to. It's a matter of just putting for the effort. If you have the proper attitude and effort and hard work, you're bound to have success in your schools."

The complete story can be found at the Banner-Graphic's Web site.

"Coach Nick"'s players at DePauw included Dave Finzer '82, who punted for the NFL's Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks after college, and Greg Werner, a 1989 graduate who played tight end for the New York Jets.

Previous stories detail Mourouzis' induction into the Indiana College Football Hall of Fame, his commencement address to DePauw's Class of 2004, and the coach's trip to the 2007 Super Bowl.

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