Chris Fleener Departing EHS

Effingham High School teacher and varsity baseball coach Chris Fleener has announced his resignation and will be taking a similar position with the Fairfield school district.

The Unit 40 school board is expected to act on the resignation at tonight's meeting. The Fairfield board voted to hire Fleener at their monthly meeting.

Fleener's wife, Amy, is from Fairfield and her family still lives there. He said they've talked about the position in the past, but either the teaching job opened up but not the baseball job, or vice versa. This year, a teaching position and the coaching job are open so Fleener applied and got both positions.

Fleener is going out on top, having led Effingham to its first Elite Eight baseball berth in 77 years. He also completed 20 years as the varsity baseball coach at EHS, following one season as the JV coach. Another milestone was winning his 400th career game this past season.

Fleener said the sermon at church recently concerned watching for signs God leaves along your journey of life and that started the process that led to his decision. He added that so much time is taken up with summer driver's ed, time that is taking him away from his family. That will not be the case with the Fairfield position.

Fleener thanked all of those who have played for him through the years; noting that good players certainly make a coach look good. He also thanked his first base coach, Ron Diehl, who he credited not only with help with baseball but also with mentoring him through the years. He also wanted to thank the many friends he's made in Effingham through the years.