From Washington University Athletics
Washington University in St. Louis head football coach Larry Kindbom announced the hiring of a pair of St. Louis natives Rob Chura and Matt Sinclair as assistant coaches. Chura will serve as the wide receiver coach, while Sinclair will coach the linebackers.
Chura brings 23 years of coaching experience to the Danforth Campus, most recently serving as varsity assistant coach at St. Louis University High School for the past 20 years. He was the offensive coordinator the past 15 years, and helped the Junior Billikens set 41 of 44 school offensive records in tenure as the OC.
Chura also spent one year as a varsity assistant coach at Vianney High School (1996) and two seasons as a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois (1993-95).
He was a three-year starter for Vanderbilt University as a kicker, and earned Academic All-SEC honors and the Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award. Chura holds the Vanderbilt single-game school record for five field-goal attempts (1992 at Kentucky), and kicked the fifth-longest field goal in school history (51 yards) vs. Navy in 1992.
He received his bachelor degree in Russian and German from Vanderbilt in 1992, and earned a master's degree in Russian in 1996 from Illinois. Chura is in his 21st year at SLUH as a Russian teacher and head of the foreign language department.
Sinclair spent the past two years as defensive coordinator at Monticello High School, and also served four years on the Wheaton Warrenville South High School staff as co-defensive coordinator, linebackers, and special teams coach. He helped lead Wheaton Warrenville South to two IHSA Class 7A state titles in 2009 and 2010, and a runner-up finish in 2011. Sinclair also spent one season as the Director of Alumni and High School Relations at Illinois.
He spent five years playing professionally in the NFL and NFL Europe, including stints with the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins, as well as the Frankfurt Galaxy. He was first-team all-NFL Europe in 2007.
Sinclair was a contributor to the 2001 Big Ten Championship and Sugar Bowl team as a true freshman before becoming a starter for the Fighting Illini in his final three seasons. He led the team and ranked third in the Big Ten with 129 tackles in 2003, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. As a senior captain in 2004, Sinclair again led the Illini in tackles with 87, including eight tackles for loss and four sacks. For his career, he racked up 278 tackles, 18 TFLs, 10 sacks and nine QB hurries.
Sinclair earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Illinois in 2005.