Friday was homecoming day for Sinque Turner.
After more than a decade running football programs at other Public League schools, Turner was announced as the new coach at Simeon, his alma mater.
Turner wasn’t necessarily looking to leave Kenwood, which he built into a city powerhouse over the past seven seasons. The Broncos had two IHSA playoff berths, one state postseason win and no city titles before he arrived. Now they’ve had five straight IHSA berths, a trip to the Class 6A quarterfinals in 2022 and two Public League championships.
But the lure of Simeon proved irresistible.
“A window of opportunity opened and I had to seize the moment,” Turner said. “To get the chance to come back to my alma mater after 20 years is amazing.”
Turner was 44-22 at Kenwood and 21-18 in four seasons at Westinghouse before that. He succeeds Derrick Hunter Jr., who was 5-5 as the Wolverines’ interim coach after Dante Culbreath resigned in August following a successful run.
“Ever since I jumped into coaching in Chicago Public Schools, it’s always been a dream of mine to get back to the alma mater,” Turner said.
Turner and another Simeon alum, Jack Ramsey, both sought the head coaching job. Ramsey will be the Wolverines’ assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
“It was bittersweet, just being back home and going through the process ... and learning that I’m going against my brother for the same position,” Ramsey said. “So the competitor in me, I brought my best foot forward. But at the end of the day, Sinque, he deserved this job.
“And when he called me and said, ‘Hey, bro, I can’t do this without you,’ I had to put my pride to the side and ... just say, ‘Hey, I gotta do it for the good of the kids.’”
Ramsey comes to Simeon from the staff of two-time defending state champ Mount Carmel. He also was an assistant at Simeon, Kenwood and Rich.
Turner, who also will start work at Simeon in a to-be-determined role after the holiday break, sees this as a destination job.
“As long as I’m a high school coach, I’m committed to Simeon,” he said.
Culbreath is looking forward to the new era at the program he led for 13 seasons.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “[Turner brings] energy, excitement, recruiting [expertise]. ... He just brings the things Simeon needs right now to rebuild the program.”
Turner broke the news of his departure to his Kenwood players before being announced as Simeon’s coach.
“That was a bittersweet moment,” he said. “I really, really care about the kids and the kids care about me as well. But these are just life lessons and these are things that they’re going to have to go through. It’s gonna be a lot of tough decisions that have to be made in their lives and mine.”
Kenwood athletic director Matt Fidati said the head coaching job was posted on Friday and the hope is to have a successor in place early next month.
“Sinque is an amazing guy, a great coach and an even better person,” Fidati said. “His coaching style is something I align with. He really builds the kids up. He’s not a yeller and a screamer kind of guy. He still has that fire in him, but in a different way.
“We’ll definitely miss him.”
