Being a former quarterback, Joey Siderewicz is instinctively surveying what’s ahead of him and eyeing the end zone.
Only now, the former Center Grove and Franklin College football player’s energies are channeled into scaling the rungs of the coaching ladder, not leading an offense downfield.
Siderewicz, who turns 24 in August, has been hired as the tight ends and receivers coach at Zionsville High School under second-year Eagles coach Scott Turnquist. It officially starts the clock on a career that he hopes leads to one day becoming a head coach himself.
“I have a timetable,” said Siderewicz, politely declining to reveal a specific season. “Right now, I’m just focusing on learning as much as I can and be the best assistant coach that I can be for coach Turnquist at Zionsville. “I got to be around and play for very good coaches and very respected coaches.
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“But you have to be yourself. I am someone who is driven and pays attention to detail.”
Joey Siderewicz will teach sixth-grade wellness at Zionsville Middle School.
His arrival continues a family football coaching legacy that dates back to the 1961 season when his grandfather, Bill Siderewicz, became an assistant at Peru High School. Bill Siderewicz went on to win 269 games in his career in head coaching stints at Rensselaer and Martinsville.
His son Joe (Joey’s father) then took over and led the Artesians from 2000 through 2006. Joe Siderewicz has been a Center Grove assistant coach since the 2007 season.
“First off, I’ve been around football so long, so I do have some connections,” said Joey, who talked with seven or eight schools about teaching and coaching openings. “I ended up sending an email to coach Turnquist at Zionsville and he contacted me right back.
“We were talking on the phone, and I knew that’s where I wanted to go. The community is awesome and wants to be at all the events, whether it’s soccer, lacrosse or some other sport. You drive through the downtown and there are banners and everything.”
Joey Siderewicz played for Eric Moore in high school and Mike Leonard in college, meaning his foremost coaching influences have won a total of 669 games.
The same way Joe shadowed Bill during the late 1960s and 1970s, Joey was destined to coach football.
As a 3-year-old, Joey began tagging along with his dad to Martinsville practices. A few years later, he started riding the bus to road games. The bond between the two grew stronger once Joey was quarterbacking Center Grove to a 23-4 record — and the 2015 Class 6A state championship — in his two seasons as a starter.
“I don’t know if I ever tried to talk him out of being a coach,” Joe said. “I showed him other opportunities and didn’t lock him into coaching. But it was during his freshman or sophomore year of college I knew that’s what he wanted to do.”
By then, Joey Siderewicz was often in the coaching booth with his dad for Center Grove games on the weekends that Franklin College was playing at home.
Like his alma mater, Joey Siderewicz’s place of employment is poised to field an outstanding team if this season is played.
Among those returning for Zionsville are Joey Tanona, a heralded 6-foot-6, 290-pound offensive lineman who has received scholarship offers by virtually every major Division I program, including reigning national champion LSU, and junior running back Colin Price (1,769 yards rushing in 2019).
The Eagles are in Class 5A, which has both father and son thinking about the final weekend in November.
“It sounds far-fetched,” Joe Siderewicz said, “but our dream is to have Zionsville playing in the 5A state championship game and Center Grove playing in the 6A game.”
Only this time, Joey Siderewicz would be decked out in green and white, not red and white.
“It’s better for him to make his name somewhere else,” Joe Siderewicz said. “At Zionsville, he’ll be coach Siderewicz, not Joey. He’s lucky enough to be starting his coaching career at a good 5A program.”
