Skillman takes over for Zinke at D-C

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Bob Skillman has seen a lot of great years in almost 30 seasons with Dundee-Crown’s wrestling program.

Now, as head coach, he will try to get the Chargers back to where they once were.

Skillman, a 1983 graduate of Crown High School, has spent his career coaching and teaching social studies at D-C. He will take over for D-C wrestling coach Al Zinke, who had a Fox Valley Conference powerhouse for most of his tenure.

Skillman began coaching with Zinke in the 1988-89 school year and took the past three years off to spend more time with his family. He and his wife, MaryBeth, have a boy, Van, who will be a freshman at D-C, and a daughter, Callie, who will be in sixth grade.

“I came back this year at Al’s request because our numbers were so low,” Skillman said. “We were down to 24 in the program. I got 30 out for the freshman team. We’re trying to build the numbers back up.”

Skillman knows he might be facing an uphill battle. The Chargers won a Class 3A regional title last season, but have only three wrestlers and zero assistant coaches are in place at this time.

“We have to restore the numbers and get going again,” Skillman said. “We have a good bunch of guys coaching with the Dundee Highlanders, which is the oldest youth program in the state. I wrestled with them when I was 6 years old.”

Skillman hopes to get some D-C graduates back into the program as coaches this summer.