Chuck Sorrell steps in as new South Putnam football coach

Thursday, August 1, 2019
Chuck Sorrell

After a quick search to find a new head football coach, South Putnam now has an experienced educator who promises to make its football team a championship-caliber program.

During a special meeting convened Monday evening to address the auctioning of Reelsville Elementary School, school officials also welcomed Chuck Sorrell as he prepares to lead the Eagles as South Putnam High School’s head football coach.

Sorrell succeeds Nathan Aker, who served as head coach for five years as well as seven as assistant coach.

Aker was hired to head Monrovia High School’s football program on July 18.

Sorrell began his coaching career in his hometown at Brownsburg High School, where he was assistant head coach as well as Brownsburg’s freshman baseball coach between 2003 and 2004.

He then went to Lapel High School and served as the championship-winning team’s defensive coordinator from 2004 to 2007.

From 2007 to 2011, Sorrell worked as both an assistant football and track and field coach at Pike High School, where he coordinated special teams. He also worked with students with autism and Down Syndrome.

Sorrell was hired as head coach in both football and track at South Vermillion High School in 2011, and focused there on community outreach. He also served as IFCA director for Region 6.

Sorrell went 4-26 in three seasons at the helm in Clinton.

He left South Vermillion in 2014 to join the staff at Cascade High School, where he was the defensive coordinator. He was still the head coach for track and field and led Cascade’s team to a WIC conference championship. He also tripled down as a business teacher.

Sorrell then took his experience to Northview High School in 2016 to serve as the special teams coordinator. In addition to teaching special education, economics, personal finance, computer technology, physical education and business, he was also selected to coach in the 2017 North/South All-Star Game while at Northview.

Before being tapped as South Putnam’s head coach, Sorrell was briefly hired earlier this year as the defensive coordinator and business teacher at Southport High School.

On the academic side, Sorrell earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism, advertising and public relations in 2001 from Franklin College, where he was also a three-year starter on the football team. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Ball State University in 2011. He earned his master’s in special education last year from Indiana State University. Sorrell is now in his eighth year as a licensed educator.

Though he has coached and taught in school systems close to Putnam County, Sorrell said he is more than familiar with South Putnam as a school which is supportive of its athletics, especially football.

“I have driven by this school two different times going to Cascade and Southport,” Sorrell told the Banner Graphic after the meeting concluded. “I had my eye on this place because of South Putnam’s tradition as a football school. The people here love football.”

Sorrell said part of his enthusiasm to coach at South Putnam was a desire to see the football team become a winning program again. Sorrell also seemed cognizant of the idea that gradual improvement will lead to sectionals, and then to the state championship.

“We can go back to the championship level,” Sorrell said. “There have been a lot of good coaches here who have encouraged that, and I’m excited to contribute my part.

“Every day for me is a championship day,” Sorrell added.

Sorrell said that he met with the team Monday morning to introduce himself and to get to know the players, as well as to set out his simple expectations for them and for himself.

“It’s about building young men of good character who can compete and be committed,” he added. “That is how you become a championship person.”

Sorrell’s wife Michelle is the assistant director for business operations at Indiana State University, and is currently in her fourth year working as the Sycamores’ business coordinator.

The Sorrells have two daughters in seven-year-old Callie and 11-month-old Breanna. They currently live in Brazil.

“We’re just thrilled to have him,” Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt told the Banner Graphic after the meeting. “And we know that he’ll be great for South Putnam.”

Comments
View 1 comment
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • *

    Ahhh - the intrigues of high school football.

    Mr. Sorrell has been employed by 7 different school districts in 16 years, averaging about 3 years per school.

    Why do you think this is? (Hint: Its in the headline.)

    He isn't an educator. He is a coach.

    He doesn't want to teach, he wants to coach.

    Unfortunately, the easiest way to be a coach is to occupy space in a school's faculty as an educator.

    This isn't an attack on Mr. Sorrell - I don't know him.

    It is a simple observation about perceived priorities of the South Putnam School administration when according to Indiana Department of Education data for 2017-2018 there were some alarming numbers:

    100% tested - only 32% of kids passed Math standardized testing.

    100% tested - only 48% of kids passed English standardized testing.

    But hey, they might have a winning football team this year.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Aug 2, 2019, at 3:21 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: