Cary-Grove Principal Issues Statement Over 'Fire Nagy' Chant

CARY, IL — Cary-Grove Principal Neil Lesinski has issued an apology following a "disrespectful chant" started by a group of Cary students at a football game against Lake Forest last weekend.

Bears coach Matt Nagy was at the game to cheer on his son. Both Tate Nagy, a Lake Forest High School freshman and a quarterback, and Brayden Nagy, a junior, are listed on the high school's roster.

The "Fire Nagy" chant started around 4 minutes into the second half of the game against Lake Forest. At the time, the score was 0-o, but Cary-Grove went on to win 40-7 in the Class 6A state semifinals.

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Administrators were quick to quiet the chant. In a statement, Lesinski apologized to Nagy and his family for the "disrespectful chant."

"It is our number one goal to instill in our students a sense of pride in their school and sports teams, and we work hard to teach them to demonstrate that pride in a positive, encouraging, and supportive way, " he said. "We hope to learn from this situation, and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again."

Administrators with Cary-Grove immediately "addressed the chant, and met with student superfine that lead chants and cheers "to talk about what happened and give them an opportunity to reflect and correct their actions."

During a press conference Tuesday, Nagy said he did not hear the chant.

"I was locked in on trying to watch my son play," Nagy told reporters.

The chant went viral over social media Tuesday and Lesinski issued a statement shortly after videos from the games started circulating on Twitter.

"Everyone has their own opinions on what they do. I hear a lot of chants across a lot of different high school programs, different chants that these kids have. That's sports right now, you know what I mean," Nagy said. "Everybody just want to see how people handle it but I did not hear it at the game."

He did say there was a group from a Cary youth football program who came up to him after the game and asked to have their pictures taken with him.

"And I'll tell you this, every one of those kids said, 'please and thank you.' And I've been to a lot of baseball games over the summer and there's not a lot of that going on," Nagy said. "So the one thing I can say that they can be proud of is that they have young kids right now who have respect."

"Fire Nagy" chants have become a trend across the Chicago area, with one breaking out recently during a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. The Bears have lost five games in a row and will play the winless Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.

Sources say the Thursday game will be his last, but Nagy denied that claim during his Tuesday press conference.

"That's not accurate" Nagy told reporters.

• Matt Nagy Will Coach His Last Bears Game On Thanksgiving: Source