GEORGETOWN — Stan Wienke predicted his future.

“I know what’s going to happen. I’m going to get out of football for a year or two and get the itch to do it (again),” the longtime successful high school coach told The News-Gazette in January 2016, after stepping aside as Villa Grove/Heritage’s football leader following one season at the helm.

Wienke didn’t get the timeline exactly correct, but his belief was spot-on.

The Georgetown-Ridge Farm Board of Education on Monday night confirmed Wienke as its high school’s new football coach. Wienke replaces Josh Cavanaugh, who resigned the Buffaloes’ coaching job this past June amid allegations of racist behavior and bullying.

Wienke also was approved as a teacher in driver’s education and health. Both confirmations were by unanimous vote.

“I’m a little older, but I’ve never remotely been burned up or not wanted to coach,” Wienke told The News-Gazette on Monday. “Being able to be a head coach again is not a shock, and it’s something I’m going to enjoy.”

The 65-year-old’s first season overseeing the Buffaloes is scheduled to commence Feb. 15, the result of an IHSA Board of Directors decision made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Wienke said of this calendar change. “This is going to be like spring practice to me. I’m going to get 20 evaluation periods for a whole new team (when fall contact days begin this upcoming Monday).”

This will be Wienke’s fourth head coaching gig in Illinois high school football. He first spent 18 years in that regard guiding Tuscola, which compiled a Class 1A state championship, a 1A state runner-up finish and 149 total victories under Wienke prior to his 2008 departure from the job.

Wienke’s on-again, off-again head coaching career since then also includes stops in Shelbyville (2011-12 and 2012-13) and VG/H (2015-16), as well as one year in Waterloo, Iowa.

Since leaving the Blue Devils, he has served as a volunteer assistant for Tuscola football and a paid assistant for Warriors track and field, specifically aiding throwers in the latter sport.

“It was very hard for me and our team to hear this news,” Tuscola junior Haven Hatfield tweeted on Monday. “Georgetown is getting one of the best around and we are gonna miss him for sure.”

G-RF football finished 3-6 during the 2019 season but only had six seniors on its roster. Wienke described the Buffaloes as “not a down-in-the-dumps operation by any means” and said he’s looking forward to installing his brand of football in Georgetown.

Wienke said G-RF officials contacted him to fill the role vacated by Cavanaugh — one Wienke assumed had been filled by a promoted assistant or an outside presence until he was connected with Buffaloes AD Kevin Thomas.

“I found out through a person that me and my wife had sort of known, they just asked if I was available and would I mind if the athletic director called to talk to me,” Wienke said. “So really it came sort of just out of the blue.”

Wienke said discussions with Thomas gave him the sense Thomas was seeking more “continuity” with his next football coach hire. Since G-RF finished second in Class 2A under Greg Edwards to cap its 1994 campaign, the Buffaloes have employed seven different head coaches — including two more years of Edwards and two different stints with Cavanaugh.

“They were wanting somebody that had an identity, wouldn’t be afraid to do a little loving on some guys, a little bit of discipline on some guys,” Wienke said, “be fair with them and teach them some football along the way. Not that a young guy can’t do that, but a lot of young guys you don’t know what their credentials really are, either. But they knew probably what they were going to get (with me).”

Wienke doesn’t see himself as an old-school coach despite his longevity in the  prep game. Spending time in Tuscola and Villa Grove during recent seasons — helping coach Andy Romine run the offense at the former location — gives Wienke the feeling he’s “not behind the times.”

Wienke also said he’s “not just committing to one year,” though he expects part of his new job will be grooming at least one assistant coach to eventually succeed him when Wienke decides to step away.

Another element of this sideline position that Wienke said he’s looking forward to is historical in nature. Wienke can recall playing high school sports against the likes of Guy Goodlove — the football boss at Westville, the Buffaloes’ Coal Bucket rival — when Wienke was a Allerton-Broadlands-Longview student and Goodlove a Westville student.

“I’m looking forward to getting to play them,” Wienke said. “I know a lot of people over there coaching at other schools. It used to be the Route 1 Conference, now it’s the Vermilion Valley. You get the Oakwoods and Westville and Salt Fork. I know somebody in every one of those towns.”

Colin Likas is the preps coordinator at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at clikas@news-gazette.com, or on Twitter at @clikasNG.