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After careful thought, Chris VanDyke concluded there’s no substitute for a home field advantage.
So he’s saying goodbye to Sandwich.
VanDyke announced this past week that he is stepping down as Sandwich’s football coach after four seasons.
VanDyke, who lives in Sugar Grove, teaches PE and health at Aux Sable Middle School in Plainfield School District 202.
“To do what I ultimately want to do as a football coach, I need to be in the building,” VanDyke said. “I’ve had great relationships with the kids in the weight room and on the field, but it’s tough when you don’t get to see students on a daily basis. Not being able to walk down to the AD office, to see staff members, it made things difficult. The more I thought about it, if I wanted to do the best job I can, being inside the building is best.”
VanDyke, a 1995 Naperville Central graduate, was brought aboard in 2014 after assistant coaching stints at his alma mater and Minooka, and a year as head coach at IC Catholic Prep.
VanDyke’s Indians posted a 7-29 record in four seasons, going 2-7 the last three years. He won his last game, 47-14 over Seneca. Highlighting his last season was a 27-9 win over Plano, Sandwich’s first in the rivalry since 2013.
“The goal is always to win the game, and a winning program is one that makes the effort to win all the time,” VanDyke said. “That’s one thing I’m proud of, is that we made an effort to win all the time.”
He’s equally proud of his program’s efforts off the football field.
“We did things for Open Door [Rehabilitation Center] in Sandwich, giving back to the community, we had a reading program with at first football players and then it turned into all fall athletes,” VanDyke said. “We talked about making a difference, not just on the team but in the community.”
Sandwich’s next football coach will be tasked with unique challenges.
In terms of restructuring the Interstate Eight Conference for the 2019-20 school year, Sandwich and Plano is working to bring aboard Geneseo, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Morris and Rochelle from the Northern Illinois Big 12. All of those schools are bigger than Sandwich and Plano. Geneseo, Morris and Rochelle were playoff teams in 2017, Morris the Class 4A state runner-up.