Lee named Class 2A Coach of the Year
<span>For the third time, Chester High School football coach Bryan Lee is the Southern Illinois Coaches Association's Class 2A Football Coach of the Year.</span>
<span>Lee takes home the award after a 2014 season in which the Yellow Jackets advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history and came 10 yards short of a potential Final Four berth in a 17-14 loss to Tuscola at W.O. Smith Field.</span>
<span>Chester also won 10 games in a season for the first time, finishing the year 10-2.</span>
<span>"It's a weird thing to get, to be honest with you," Lee said of the award. "If it wasn't for the kids and the work they put in, I wouldn't be getting this."</span>
<span>Lee will be presented with the award Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Du Quoin Elks Club. He had previously won the award in 2010 and 2012.</span>
<span>"Without the assistant coaches that we have, this would also not be possible," said Lee, after making a joke about even-numbered years. "I feel like without those cats, there would no chance of me getting that award.</span>
<span>"I have the best staff in Southern Illinois and we all share this award."</span>
<span>Lee is second on the CHS all-time wins list, trailing only former coach Dennis Roth. Roth won 88 games in a 19-year career from 1988 to 2006.</span>
<span>Lee has 51 wins through seven seasons on the Chester sideline. With a 51-20 overall record, he has won more than 71 percent of his games.</span>
<span>"Eventually, I would like to be the all-time wins leader," he said. "Dennis Roth is a heck of a football coach and to be mentioned in that same breath would be pretty amazing."</span>
<span>Looking toward the fall 2015 season, Chester could return four all-Black Diamond Conference selections (Jordan Berner, Garret Hoffman, Blake Eggemeyer and Jacob Golding), including two All-South picks (Berner and Hoffman) and one All-State in linebacker/tight end Berner.</span>
<span>"Winning Coach of the Year is not a long-term goal," Lee said. "Our goals are team goals. I like it when our kids get excited about getting All-Conference, All-South and All-State."</span>
<span>According to family sources, Berner - who was also named the BDC MVP - is getting considerable Division I attention, with the University of Minnesota, Penn State and SIU among the list of interested suitors.</span>
<span>"We return some pretty good players and for the first time in awhile we'll have a really big game in Week 1," Lee said. "We open up with Fairfield at home. We have to get out and make sure that we're conditioned and ready for Fairfield."</span>
<span>Full IHSA football schedules are expected to be released in July.</span>