Chicago City Wire

Deputy Governor of Illinois for Education Jesse Ruiz is facing harsh criticism in the face of the football season being indefinitely on hold.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who just yesterday announced the cancellation of prep football, has been leaning on Ruiz to lead the effort.

Now, coaches across the state are expressing their displeasure with Ruiz.

"It is extremely disheartening that we cannot even get the Governor and Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz of the Department of Education to even listen to us and consider reinstating Fall sports,” Rob Zvonar, Head Football Coach at Lincoln-Way East High School, told Prairie State Wire. “All safety precautions would be in place and this can be done successfully as the NFL, College, and ALL other Midwest States have proven. It is obvious that this is a decision based on politics and not what is best for the kids."

Other coaches, such as Sacred Heart Griffin’s Ken Leonard, have taken to rallying parents and students and coordinating call-in campaigns to legislators.

Glenbrook North High School Athletic Director Bob Pieper, a former gootball coach, said Ruiz should allow students back on the fields.

“I can believe the Governor @GovPritzkeris doing what he is doing because for some reason he won’t listen but I am surprised about Deputy Gov Jesse Ruiz @JesseRuizEsq because everything you hear about him are good things and that he would put kids first,” Peiper tweeted.

Despite his reputation, earlier this year Ruiz banned team sports camps after a Lake Zurich High School sports camp had an outbreak among participants. However, that reaction was considered unjustified after the outbreak was later traced to by the Lake County Health Department to off-campus activities, not due to participation in sports.

Following that decision and with uncertainty surrounding the upcoming football season many of the state’s players transferred so as not to lose the season.  

In fact, all states surrounding Illinois - Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin - have started playing prep football where untold thousands have played, performed and attended games with no “super spreader” events reported.

The timing is odd for Pritzker and Ruiz to cancel prep football. The Big Ten, which includes the University of Illinois and Northwestern University in Chicago, just announced today they will host a football season culminating in a Dec. 29 championship game.

With rallies rising up and pressure being applied by the community Ruiz could find himself in choppy political waters.  

Ruiz’s political history speaks for itself when it comes to his ambition.

An attorney, Ruiz belongs to a far ranging lists of community and legal groups throughout Chicago. He has served on a variety commissions and as a law student took classes from former President Barack Obama for whom he later campaigned.

Ruiz ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Attorney General in 2018 coming in sixth in a field of eight.  

Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, he was Vice President of the Chicago Board of Education and President of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners before serving as interim head of Chicago Schools after a bribery scandal forced his predecessor out of the spot.

Ruiz is rumored to have ambitions to become Mayor of Chicago.