Sinclair resigns as Fisher football coach
Feb. 16—FISHER — Matt Sinclair's daughter, Charlotte, is in eighth grade at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High, and she's becoming a year-round athlete, playing volleyball and basketball and running track.
His son, Sean, is in fifth grade, and he's bound to get involved in extracurriculars if he's anything like his dad.
They are 14 and 11 years old, and it wasn't until after Sinclair became Fisher's football coach a year ago that he realized his priorities needed to be with his family. That's why Sinclair recently resigned from the position after only one season coaching the Bunnies.
"The reality of my kids' age hit me this year," Sinclair told The News-Gazette. "I spent 15 years coaching other people's kids, and I love it. I think it's made me a better father in a lot of ways. ... It was a family decision (to take the job), but at the same time, I don't think my children understand our life without a bunch of other boys involved in it. I'm interested to see what that looks like."
Sinclair, a former Illinois linebacker who had previous stops as an assistant coach at Monticello and coaching stints at Division III colleges Washington University, North Central and Carthage (Wis.), made it clear there was no ill will between him and the Fisher community.
He still supports his players from this past fall — he was at State Farm Center on Thursday to watch one of his freshman starting linebackers this past season, Cooper Miller, at the IHSA state wrestling finals — and he plans to go back to the Fisher Community Fair every summer.
He said he loved his time leading the Bunnies, and his decision to leave was strictly personal.
"I told those kids the first day back of the second semester, 'I wish I hated all of you. It'd make this very easy on me,'" Sinclair said. "When I say I love the people of Fisher, there are great folks over there. I'm very privileged to be able to say I'm part of Fisher for the rest of my life."
Fisher athletic director Brian Bajer understood Sinclair's decision, noting that the time commitment of a football coach is "a pretty strenuous gig," but he also admitted it took him a little by surprise.
"We were certainly expecting for him to stick around," said Bajer, in his first year as the Bunnies' athletic director. "I wasn't part of the hiring process, but it's my belief and understanding that when we had those discussions, he was going to be the guy for a long time. I had no doubt, even after the season, that was going to be the case."
The Bunnies finished the 2023 season with an 0-9 record, their first season back playing a varsity schedule after not fielding enough players for a varsity team during the 2022 season.
The JV-only schedule in 2022 came just three years after Fisher's third consecutive Class 1A playoff appearance under former coach Jake Palmer. But Palmer, the Fisher Grade School Principal, resigned after the fall 2021 season to focus on his administrative duties. Carrick MacDonald arrived to coach the Bunnies in 2022, but he resigned after the JV-only season to become the Hoopeston Area/Armstrong-Potomac football coach, with Sinclair filling the job in 2023.
"The hardest part for us as a school is the turnover we've had at that position over the last four or five years," Bajer said. "It's just been challenging to keep a consistent coach, someone who's going to build the program, be around for a while and really dedicate themself to the kids and be there for them in the good and the bad. That's our main goal right now in this hiring process is finding someone we believe will be able to do that, who knows these kids well, is willing to be here for the long haul and really build something special."
Bajer added that Fisher administration has met with multiple candidates to potentially replace Sinclair, and they're getting to the point where they're ready to recommend someone to the board of education for approval.
Sinclair believes he helped move some things forward from a culture standpoint in his short time with the Bunnies, but he knew it would have taken too much away from him in his personal life to commit to building a championship-caliber program.
Sinclair said he'll be around the game of football for the rest of his life, and he imagines he'll coach again in the future. For now, he's unsure what his immediate plans are.
"But I'm grateful to everyone at Fisher," Sinclair said.