Griz Chat: Former Griz Asst. Takes High School Head Coach Job

Former Griz Assistant Coach and Montana native Jace Schillinger didn't plan a return to coaching football but sometimes fate has other ideas. Schillinger's wife Amie accepted a job in Eastern Montana and led Schillinger to the front door of Sidney High School.

The Sidney Herald reported the Baker native accepted the head coaching job at Sidney High School. Coaching hadn't been on the forefront of Schillinger's mind for some time.

"I really haven't thought about coaching football much lately to be honest with you," said Schillinger. "This kind of came as an afterthought of the move, but I really kind of started to get the itch to want to get back into coaching this spring by coaching track at Sentinel High School."

Sidney Football's job opened up at the right time for Schillinger.

"I knew the former coach that was there before, Roger Merritt. He was there for quite some time, and I knew he was looking to retire from coaching football and my first cousin's a Superintendent there, and so he was kind of in my ear. Once Amy accepted the job to 'Hey, I think you should apply for this football job we got.'"

Schillinger did and he was hired on as head coach for the Sidney Eagles. The change won't go into effect until after this school year wraps up. He will close out the school year as Head Coach of Sentinel Track and Field before he and his family move this summer.

Originally from Baker, Montana, Schillinger still has family living in Eastern Montana. It was the main driving force behind his wife taking a new job.

"That was pretty much the primary role for all of us really is to get back closer to family. Not that my parents are in bad health, but you know, they're aging and my dad's trying to run a family farm that he's been running for a long time and, you know, maybe he could use some help," said Schillinger.

Jace's brother Shann Schillinger is Head Coach at the University of Mary - located 232 miles from Sidney in Bismarck.

The full interview with Jace Schillinger can be found below.