The greatest example comes from Manual
basketball. Andrew Johnson was brought in
from Chicago-area power Proviso East to suc-
ceed Wayne McClain in 2000-01. Like Koehler,
he was personable, but his deviation from the
Van Scyoc system was a two-year disaster before
the program was brought back onto its coach-
ing tree, first by Tim Kenny and then to current
coach Derrick Booth.
“
We still have the same system we had here
under Coach Van,” Booth said, adding that the
owner of 856 wins “never misses a home game”
as he nears his 90th birthday. “He has slowed
down a little, but his mind is as sharp as ever.
When he talks, the kids listen. So do I.”
The sheer magnetism of the program patri-
archs, if you will, is what longtime Journal Star
sports editor Kirk Wessler cites when defining
what makes some schools stand out.
“
I call this the ‘cult of personality’ in coach-
ing,” Wessler said. “I believe it’s the single most
important element in a dominant high school
program, especially public schools with atten-
dance boundaries. They become the coach every
kid — and every kid’s parent — wants to play
for. They create an environment where the kids
in their district grow up wanting to play that
sport for that coach: football, swimming, cross
country, baseball, whatever.”
And they worked.
“
Corky is the hardest-working coach I’ve ever
seen, by far,” retired Woodruff swim coach Jim
Runkle said of his rival and friend, Corky King,
who coached the bulk of Richwoods’ 33-year
streak of conference boys titles. The Knights
have won fewer than half the Mid-State 6
crowns since King left at the end of the 1990s.
“
I believe we flat-out outwork people, pure
and simple,” Sullivan said after crediting par-
ents and assistant coaches as primary reasons
Notre Dame keeps making good on its “We run
this town,” slogan.
Ryan and Richwoods’ Todd Hursey agree on
the family factor. The latter is first-year athlet-
ics director at Richwoods after assisting on the
Knights’ last two girls basketball state cham-
pions (2005, ‘09) and serving as head coach for
three seasons. “The family contributions, finan-
cially and physically, are huge for our school
and teams,” Hursey said.
“
The biggest thing we’ve got going now,”
Ryan said, “is there’s a tremendous amount of
trust. I think when parents drop them off, they
know we’re going to do right by the kids. There
are still playing-time gripes — there will always
be those — but we’ve generally got tremendous
support in the community.”
Those who don’t work as consistently, West-
endorf said, enjoy only blips of success.
“
There are some schools out there where it
kind of runs in cycles,” he said. “I think it de-
pends on the leadership of the program. Some
of these kids have had coaches who weren’t
interested in the job. Most people can do it a
year or two. You get to 10 years, it’s not luck
anymore. “It’s got to be the system. It’s got to be
the coaches.”
THE 2011-2012 PEORIA CENTRAL LIONS VARSITY BASKETBALL TEAM PICTURED HERE WON THE CLASS 3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP LAST MARCH
20
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