Last Friday afternoon, Normal West announced Mr. Nathan Fincham as the new head coach of the varsity football team.

Fincham is a science teacher at Normal West and has been coaching for JV and varsity levels for the past eleven years. He replaces Coach Darren Hess who resigned back in December.

Fincham played football all throughout high school and also in college at Aurora University. With playing and coaching experience, Coach Fincham seems perfect for the job.

“I’m excited to continue to work with these players and to stay involved with this program,” Fincham said.  “We need to continue to focus on improving and that starts with being more of a team. I believe building up character and culture will lead to cohesion and that’s what we need.”

Mr. Lewis is the athletic director here at West. He was the one who hired Fincham as the head coach.

“Coach Fincham is a detailed-oriented coach with a clear plan for our football program,” Mr. Lewis told the Pantagraph. “He will continue to promote leadership and development of our student athletes.”

The panel of people that helped with the interview process consisted of Mr. Lewis, our principal, Mr. Johnson, our assistant principal, Mrs. Codron, and parents and players from the football program. All agreed Fincham was the candidate with the best score and interview.

“Being a head coach is different than an assistant and there will definitely be new challenges, but Fincham is ready and that’s why he deserves this job,” Mr. Lewis said. “He’ll build off what Hess has already built the past 15 years, but he’ll be changing a few things to make them his own as well.”

“Normal West is a good school and I’m excited to continue to work with these players and compete with other teams,” Fincham said.