Coaching whirlwind in the Tri-Cities

Geneva football coach Rob Wicinski is back coaching basketball, as an assistant to head boys varsity coach Phil Ralston.

His area of expertise?

“The water bottles,” Wicinski said.

The crazy kidder actually has coached basketball about a dozen years. Before this season he spent six years apiece in the boys and girls programs, whether on the varsity or in lower levels.

“He knows the game,” Ralston said. “This was something I had approached with him. He wanted to think about it and I think part of him felt that since his eldest daughter, Lauren, is playing volleyball on the collegiate level (at Northern Illinois University), maybe it's a good time for him to coach a second sport.

“I just feel fortunate that we have him on board.”

ACC Tech

Aurora Central Catholic girls basketball coach Mark Fitzgerald is ahead of the curve.

He's got an application used with an iPhone or an iPad, at a modest price of $4.99, that can download game stats directly to the Chargers basketball website and also to media outlets.

It's called HoopStats Basketball Scoring, made by Rare Software and available from Apple.

“This thing is working great so far,” Fitzgerald said. “As soon as the game is over you can automatically e-mail the detailed stats.”

Humility

Early this basketball season, West Aurora coach Gordon Kerkman will win the 700th game of his 34 illustrious years as head coach. He is not expecting a ticker-tape parade.

If he does get one, it better be long enough to include the hundreds of athletes and coaches he's worked with along the way.

“They're not mine, they're ours. A bunch of us contributed to that,” Kerkman said of the 696 wins he's earned entering this season.

“That's something I'd just as soon not look at right now. We've got other fish to fry.”

Basketball 101

Over the summer, St. Charles North's boys basketball team attended the University of Kansas Team Camp.

“It's Naismith-everything down there,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said.

The players discovered, among other things, that James Naismith Court is in the Allen Fieldhouse, the university's basketball facility, which is located on Naismith Drive. After inventing the sport in 1891 in Springfield, Mass., the Canadian came to Lawrence and founded the Jayhawks' basketball program seven years later.

The North Stars enjoyed the usual camaraderie stuff: hanging out in the dorm rooms, two per room, taking bus rides to games. Those are the type of things that bring teams together.

They got to show their basketball abilities in front of Kansas coach Bill Self and assistant Danny Manning, and Poulin was able to speak with the coaches in one of the best basketball centers in the world.

“It was great to see the home of basketball,” Poulin said. “All the tradition and history was great for the kids to witness.”

Stephens and Son

Having Kendall Stephens on St. Charles East's boys basketball team produced another benefit for the Saints program and head coach Brian Clodi.

This season former Elgin Academy coach and NBA player Everette Stephens is on Clodi's varsity staff.

“Obviously, when you've got a coach that played at the highest level that you can play at that's the NBA he's been through it, he's seen it all and done it all, and that's what most coaching staffs don't have,” Clodi said. Clodi also has one of his former players, Chris Powell, on the varsity staff.

The elder Stephens was an all-state player at Evanston, and went on to star at Purdue. He was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia 76ers, got traded and played two seasons in the league, with Indiana and Milwaukee before heading to a variety of professional teams overseas.

Shortly after his playing career ended, Stephens landed at Elgin Academy, where he coached the boys varsity from 2000-09. He conducted skills training last year but did not coach formally.

“He took a year off, and we're very fortunate to get him to coach with us,” Clodi said.

There's absolutely no friction between sophomore guard Kendall Stephens and his father, Clodi said.

“They have such a special relationship. I've known Kendall from coming to camp since fourth or fifth grade. Him and his dad have always been tight.

“Kendall's on board, he loves to have his dad around. It's going to be really good.”