Minneapolis Roosevelt football coach Rodney Lossow is back where he belongs

Twice a month, Rodney Lossow gets an infusion of Avsola, a drug that treats Crohn’s disease, at MNGI Digestive Health, a health care center in Eagan.

His bimonthly routine might sound like a burden, but to the ever-optimistic Lossow, it doesn’t seem that way.

Two years ago, the disease forced him to step away from coaching football and teaching physical education in the Minneapolis Public Schools system.

“My health had been declining all year. I was down about 50 pounds,” Lossow said.

Surgery, when doctors removed a large section of his colon, happened soon after.

“They took out about a foot of my colon,” Lossow said. “It was a rough summer.”

With their children enjoying adulthood and no high school players or students to guide, Lossow and his wife, Janine, recently made a lifestyle change. They moved out of the city and got a townhouse in Lakeville. With his clinic nearby in Eagan, Lossow began to feel more like his old self.

Those treatment sessions are providing an opportunity for the 59-year-old Lossow to return to what he loves most: being involved with young people again.

He is in the midst of his first season as football head coach at Minneapolis Roosevelt, his second stint heading up the Teddies.

A former All-Big Ten offensive lineman at Wisconsin, Lossow grew up in south Minneapolis and played professionally in the NFL, the Canadian Football League and the now-defunct World League of American Football. He graduated from South High School in 1983 where a hardscrabble background led to success on the football field and a scholarship.

After his playing days, he became a head coach in football, softball, gymnastics, badminton and soccer. He’s also an adapted P.E. teacher, splitting his time between South in the mornings and Roosevelt in the afternoons.

When his ailment forced him to step away, though, he sought other methods of making an impact.

Lossow, a devout Christian, built a ministry when he first began teaching and coaching, the R.O.C.K. Sports Ministry, which catered to athletes. With more time on his hands, he leaned into the ministry.

“Last fall, I was sitting with my middle son and I felt the calling again. I needed to help out,” Lossow said.

Through his ministry, Lossow contacted coaches in Minneapolis, offering his assistance for players with needs and meals. Not long after, the urge to scratch a familiar itch grew.

“I got the bug to coach again,” he said. “I reached out to [head coach Ryan] Galindo at Washburn, just to offer to help.”

Lossow told Janine that he was looking to coach again. His wife’s response?

“She agreed on one condition,” Lossow said. “Keep God No. 1, me No. 2 and coaching No. 3.”

It was then Lossow received word that Roosevelt was searching for a new coach. He immediately contacted Teddies athletic director Adam Flanders.

“I knew him when he was a substitute teacher for me,” said Flanders, a Roosevelt grad. “He weighed a lot more then. He was just coming off his football career.”

Their familiarity helped Lossow get through the door, but Flanders told him he wasn’t playing favorites.

“I told him ‘You’ve got to win the interview with the interview panel,’” Flanders said. “Rodney did not have an issue with that. He said everything they wanted to hear. Hiring him was a no-brainer.”

Lossow wasn’t sure how he would be received at Roosevelt. After all, it had been 14 years since he coached at the school.

To his surprise, his return created excitement around the program. Almost 80 students signed up to play for Lossow, nearly twice as many as the previous season.

With the surplus of players, Roosevelt created three teams, including a previously nonexistent ninth-grade team.

“It’s been 20 years since we’ve had a ninth-grade team,” Flanders said. “He self-recruited players, he found funding from his nonprofit and he’s more than doubled our booster club. Kids want to play for him and parents love him. He’s about building young men. That’s at the heart of his philosophy. He’s a transformational head coach who will build loving young men who will care for each other.”

Having Lossow has made a difference in morale and school excitement, students said.

“A lot of kids wanted to come out for football this year,” said junior Elliott Gehrke, now a team manager because of an injury. “They know he knows so much about football, they all wanted to play for him.”

On Thursday, the Teddies defeated South — Lossow’s previous coaching spot — 19-9 for their second victory of the season. That’s more than Roosevelt won in the three previous seasons combined, having gone winless in 2021 and ’22 and winning one game last season. The Teddies are 2-5, marking the school’s first two-win season since 2020.

Lossow downplays the importance of wins and losses, but at this point in the rebuilding of Roosevelt football, he won’t deny its influence. Success is tangible.

“It’s hard to teach character traits when you’re losing,” Lossow said. “Kids relate to losses. It’s hard to teach them to do the right things when they don’t see the payoff. We want to see them want to win games. We don’t want them to be complacent. We want to see them fighting through bad times and trying to get better.”

It would appear Lossow’s camaraderie-building style is paying off, but he says it will take a year before he can be sure.

“I’ll know better next year,” said Lossow, who plans on coaching for at least five more years. “I’ll know by how many we get to come back. Will they have the desire to come back and work to improve and get better? I hope so.”