MISSOULA — The Schillinger name carries a lot of weight on football fields in eastern Montana.
Don Schillinger won more than 300 games and six Class B state championships in 37 years as head football coach at Baker High School. Now, his nephew Jace plans to bring “Coach Schillinger” back to the high school arena as the head coach at Sidney High School.
“I understand my dad and uncle…I coach over there so they know my name and all that, but I try not to think about it too much,” Jace Schillinger said. He coached track and field (his brother Shan is the head football coach at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota).
“The expectations we have are the ones we put on ourselves and we hope that they become realistic soon. It will take time and so on, but as time goes on I really hope we get some really good results.''I hope it brings about a change in the culture of the football program and that it brings a change in the culture of the school. ”
Sydney activities director Chris Lee announced Schillinger's hiring on Thursday, pending final board approval.
“We are very excited to welcome Coach Schillinger and his family to Sydney,” said Lee. “His coaching background, wealth of experience and passion for the game make him the ideal person to lead our football program. We look forward to him joining the storied history of Sydney Eagle football.” I look forward to making a lasting impact.”
Schillinger will take over a Sidney program that has had only two head coaches since 1981. One is Mike Geer, who led the Eagles to a seven-year Class A state championship dynasty from 1987 to 1993, and Roger Merritt, Geer's successor in 2011. And he retired in January of this year.
Guy Melby was also a longtime assistant football coach and still leads Sidney's vaunted wrestling program.
“I've known Roger and Guy for a long time, and I've met Coach Geer once or twice, and I have a lot of respect for each of them,” Schillinger said. “They're each kind of synonymous with Sydney Athletics and have been around since the days when Sydney won seven games in a row. I mean, they've won a lot of games… and Guy's obviously won a lot, too.” About the wrestling championship.
“I have the utmost respect for all of them and really appreciate what they have done for the school. I hope we can continue that tradition on the soccer field this year.”
Schillinger said he intends to “pick all their wisdom” and that it would be “stupid” not to get their coaching insights. However, he will bring his own experience to the job.
After winning the Class B state title in 1999 while playing on his uncle's team and graduating from Baker University in 2000, Schillinger played college football at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. He graduated from his DSU in 2005 and immediately began his coaching career.
He served as the head track coach and assistant coach on the basketball and football staffs at Billings Central from 2005-2006. He then returned to Dickinson State University, where he coached the Blue Hawks' defensive line in football and served as an assistant track coach from 2006 to 2008.
Mr. Schillinger returned to the high school arena as the head coach at Livingston in 2008-2009 and then returned to the collegiate coaching position. He was the running backs coach at the University of North Dakota (2009-11), the offensive coordinator and head track coach at Dickinson State University (2015-16) and the tight ends coach at the University of Montana (2017-20).
He took a few years off from coaching and is currently in his first, and ultimately only, season as the head track and field coach at Sentinel High School in Missoula.
“One of the things I kind of realized through this year's coaching track was how much I missed coaching kids, the friendships I built with kids, the relationships I built with kids and coaches and school administrators. '' Schillinger said. “I realized that’s one of the things I really miss about coaching.”
Since leaving the Grizzlies' coaching staff, Schillinger has been a sales representative for BSN Sports, a job he will continue to do while coaching in Sydney. He said his family, his wife Amy and his children Laura, Grady and Vyda, will likely move from Missoula to Sydney in late June.
“Honestly, they were a little more enthusiastic about this before I was,” Schillinger said. “The whole family was really excited. My kids have cousins over there, so they were looking forward to being back close to family.”
Amy is also from Baker and her parents still live there. Jace's parents currently live in Circle.
Although moving closer to family was one of Schillinger's main motivations for returning to eastern Montana, leaving Missoula, the community where he lived the longest part of his adult life, remains bittersweet.
Since the hiring was announced Thursday morning, Schillinger said he has received congratulatory text messages throughout the day.
“It's humbling because on the Sydney side they're really looking forward to having us over there. That excites me and I'm looking forward to my kids being able to experience it.” ” he said. “And it's also humbling because there are people here who care about you and are kind of sad to see you go.
“I've always been privileged, and I've been really fortunate to have such good people and good friends and things like that, and to have such good opportunities. I was very fortunate to have had such an opportunity.”
