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Aug. 28—CHAMPAIGN — Chris Wilkerson was already on staff at San Jose State, moving up from defensive ends coach to defensive coordinator, when Barry Lunney Jr. was hired in 2003 as the Spartans’ co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
The overlap in their careers, though, was brief. Fitz Hill resigned as San Jose State’s coach after the 2004 season, with Wilkerson moving on to Dartmouth as associate head coach before landing the top job at the University of Chicago and returning to coach his alma mater, Eastern Illinois, in 2022.
Lunney went back to Arkansas in 2005 to coach with his dad at Bentonville High School. That led to college stops at Arkansas and Texas-San Antonio before he reunited with Bret Bielema at Illinois as offensive coordinator in 2022.
But even though they were together at San Jose State a short time, a strong relationship developed between Wilkerson and his wife, Sharna, and Lunney and his wife, Janelle, in those two seasons in the Bay Area. Strong enough that the Wilkersons asked the Lunneys to be the godparents of their son, Peyton.
“Peyton was born Aug. 31, 2004, and there was no better people that we could have thought of to ask the honor of being his godparents,” Wilkerson said. “They graciously accepted, and they’ve been a huge influence in his life. … He’s a heck of a football coach, a great offensive mind, but even a better person. They’re unbelievable people, and it’s an honor and a privilege for us to call them our son’s godparents.”
Wilkerson and Lunney will square off from opposing sidelines for the second time in their coaching careers Thursday night at Memorial Stadium when Illinois hosts EIU in an 8 p.m. kickoff. (They clashed in 2002 before they met when San Jose State played at Tulsa, where Lunney was wide receivers coach).
“I felt like I learned a lot about Eastern…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/small-coaching-world-144800263.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-08-28 14:48:00
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