Sandwich football coach Kris Cassie resigns after leading Indians to back-to-back playoff appearances

Kris Cassie was a young 24-year-old man, fresh out of college and newly married, when he first came to Sandwich 24 years ago.

“You put it in God’s hands,” Cassie said, “and he will lead you to where you want.”

Now a father of three, the youngest a junior at Sandwich, Cassie is prepared for the next chapter.

Cassie, after leading Sandwich to back-to-back playoff appearances the past two seasons in a remarkable turnaround, announced this week that he is resigning as head football coach after seven years.

“It is something I’ve been thinking about for a little while,” Cassie said. “Simply because the true story, I’ve been thinking it is time to go back and be an [athletic director] again. I enjoyed my time as an AD. It was the wrong time when I did it before, but I’ve put in a tremendous amount of time. It was a good time to leave the program in a good state.”

Indeed, in a sense Cassie twice helped led Sandwich back from tough times.

He was hired in 2018 when Sandwich was coming off three consecutive 2-7 seasons; the Indians managed to improve to 4-5 in both 2018 and 2019.

Program participation was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sandwich struggled to an 0-9 2021 season. The following fall, the school canceled its varsity football season because of low participation numbers.

Sandwich made a remarkable return in 2023, going 8-4 and reaching the Class 4A quarterfinals, and backed it up by qualifying for the playoffs again this year.

On top of that success, Sandwich’s sophomore team went 7-2 this fall and won the Kishwaukee River Conference title, and numbers are up at the junior tackle levels.

“Whoever the next coach is coming in, the cabinet is going to be fairly full,” Cassie said. “I felt now is the time. I’m ready to switch gears and do something a little different.”

In his 24th year of education, all at Sandwich, Cassie has worn a multitude of hats in the district.

He’s been a football and wrestling assistant, head middle school wrestling coach, interim head wrestling coach, physical education teacher and driver’s education instructor. Cassie was AD at Sandwich from 2011-2014.

He cherished his time on the sidelines at Sandwich, and what was built.

“There was success right out of the gate, first two years 4-5, the middle three years was well-documented but we stayed the course with fantastic assistant coaches and administrative support and support from the school board,” Cassie said. “You have to trust the process, and that is what we did.”

Cassie plans to apply for AD positions in other districts and mentioned his alma mater, Prospect.

“I love the small-town feel here. We will take a look and apply for positions and make a decision,” Cassie said. “If I don’t find anything or nothing sticks, I’ll be perfectly happy teaching at Sandwich for my son’s senior year. If we have to move, we have talked to him about it.

“We will make the decision that’s best for our family moving forward.”