[blue1424]

After being fired in February as the DeSales High School football coach, Mark Sander considered getting out of the profession altogether.

“I was looking at working for some other companies, but nothing really came up that I wanted,” he said.

So Sander is back in coaching and is facing a big rebuilding project as he’s been named the new coach at Iroquois.

“It was really intriguing to me,” said Sander, who played football at the University of Louisville. “I think it’s going to be good for me in the long run.”

Sander inherits an Iroquois program that hasn’t had a winning season since finishing 9-2 in 1994. The Raiders have finished at .500 just once since then, going 5-5 in 1999.

The Raiders were 1-27 over the past three seasons under coach Anthony Waters, the only win coming over Atherton (32-21) in the 2010 season finale.

“I don’t want people to expect a lot of big things quickly,” Sander said. “After the upcoming dead period, we’re going to have six weeks to practice and then we’ll have our first game. Our goals won’t be based on wins and losses. We want to set goals that go along with the other parts of athletics.”

Sander posted a 76-47 record in 10 seasons at DeSales and won three regional championships. His 2009 squad went 11-4, losing to Fort Campbell in the Class 2-A championship game. He finished as the winningest coach in DeSales history.

Sander is hoping his success will help attract players into the Iroquois program.

“Everything I’ve heard is that there are some good athletes walking around the building at Iroquois,” Sander said. “Hopefully I can drive some people to want to come out and play. It’s going to be a good challenge.”

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