Healy steps down at St. Francis

St. Francis boys basketball coach Shawn Healy demanded his players accept personal challenges on the court, stray from their comfort zone.

This week he took his own advice.

Healy resigned his position as the head varsity coach after five seasons. A 1995 St. Francis graduate, Healy’s career mark with the Spartans was 82-54 with conference titles in 2009-10 and his first season, 2006-07, plus a 2008 regional crown.

“St. Francis was a very safe and secure place for me and I thought it was time for me to take my own advice and find a new challenge,” said Healy, 34, who tendered his resignation Sunday. St. Francis athletic director Paul Linden has posted the position on the websites of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, and St. Francis.

Healy spoke on the phone from San Diego, where his wife, Yvette, was coaching the University of Wisconsin Badgers softball team at the San Diego Classic. She had been hired out of the softball coaching position at Loyola University on July 24, and though Shawn Healy had his wife’s support and felt until only recently he would coach at St. Francis least one more season despite long commutes, the family’s move to the Madison area sent events into motion.

“The administration was great, Paul Linden was great, the kids were great, my wife was on board with me coming back, the whole family was,” said Healy, younger brother of Wheaton Warrenville South coach and athletic director Mike Healy.

“But it just felt like it was another year of me not getting adjusted here in Madison, another year of me not networking within the coaching profession,” he said, 2-year-old daughter Grace chirping in the background.

Healy came to that realization on the morning of March 2, he said, the day of the Spartans’ upset of Class 3A regional host Nazareth. As it was with Mike Harper, the man he succeeded as St. Francis coach and for whom he played as a prep, Healy’s Spartans were known for character and execution in the face of adversity. Healy pointed to this season’s Thanksgiving title at Batavia, last season’s win over 24-2 Wheaton Academy and the Spartans’ 2008 playoff wins over St. Joseph and Crane as games St. Francis could “hang our hat on.”

“I guess I’m just proud of the mentality our kids had, they weren’t fearful of going up against anybody,” he said. “... I’m really proud of the way they grasped what we were supposed to convey to them, fighting and challenging themselves.”

Healy said, “if I went with my heart I’d probably be back at St. Francis,” but instead may he explore collegiate coaching in Wisconsin, with an eye toward a head coaching spot in the future.

“For me probably the biggest highlight was just going to practice every day,” he said. “It sounds corny, but that was a big highlight. I really enjoyed those two, two and a half hours that I got to spend with the kids. It was very enjoyable to me.”