Simpson brings starpower, coaching savvy to Grayslake Central
As soon as Maura Fitzgerald and her teammates could get to their phones, they were … Googling.
Last summer, Grayslake Central girls basketball coach Steve Ikenn told his players that they would soon be getting a new assistant coach. Her name: Lacey Simpson. Her credentials: a Big Ten standout with WNBA experience.
Not your typical resume for any basketball coach up in the far north suburbs.
“We were looking her up on our phones,” said Fitzgerald, a sophomore guard. “We were super excited when we were reading all about her. But a little intimidated, too.”
Simpson is in her first year on the bench with Grayslake Central, which was 22-7 heading into Thursday's regional final against Fremd. But clearly, Simpson is not new to basketball. A prep star who graduated from Zion-Benton in 2005, Simpson went on to have a stellar career at the University of Illinois, where she became known and acknowledged for her fierce defense. She was a member of the all-Big Ten defensive team and was the league's steals champ in 2009.
After college, Simpson got tryouts in the WNBA and played professionally overseas in Turkey and Iceland.
When she decided to step away from basketball in 2012, Simpson came back home. In 2014, she got a job in government human resources with Lake County. But she was missing basketball. She worked temporarily with the girls basketball teams at North Chicago and Waukegan. Then, a job came open at Grayslake Central.
“The big joke when I was interviewing with Grayslake Central was that (athletic director) Brian Moe was telling me that they read my resume and saw all the stuff about Illinois and the WNBA and they had to call me in because they wanted to see if I was a real person,” Simpson said with a laugh. “We hit it off great and it felt like a great fit right away.”
Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn already knew Simpson was the real deal. He remembers coaching against her when she was a player at Zion-Benton. Back then, he was an assistant coach at Stevenson.
“Lacey was a great all-around high school basketball player,” Ikenn said. “She could dominate the game at both ends of the floor, and she worked hard.
“And then she did it on an even higher level and became one of the Big Ten's best defenders. One of the things we talked a lot about when she was interviewing was defense and we both have the same focus and philosophies on defense. We both love defense and that makes it kind of fun.”
One of Simpson's top responsibilities is working with the players on better defensive strategies and positioning. Simpson took Fitzgerald under her wing for some extra help on defense.
“It's tough when you're a point guard and you're also being asked to guard the other team's best (perimeter) player, and that's what happening with Maura,” Simpson said of Fitzgerald. “It's a tough situation for anyone and especially with Maura being just a sophomore.
“I really wanted to work (closely) with Maura and challenge her and she has accepted that challenge. She listens well, she's coachable, she's doing great. All of our girls are. I'm passionate about defense and I think they're all getting better at it.”
Simpson sees all the gains, and every area that still needs improvement up close and personal. The 30-year-old often gets out her own hightops and plays with the Rams. At 6-foot-1 and with wheels that still go super fast, Simpson can easily demonstrate any defensive concept she's trying to teach, sometimes much to the chagrin of the players.
“She'll steal the ball from us all the time, for sure. She just moves her hands and feet so fast,” Fitzgerald said with a laugh. “(Simpson) is definitely pretty aggressive and physical when she plays against us. She's just so passionate about defense and it's fun because you don't normally see that, or see a player like her at our level.
“It's been great the time she's spending with me. My form is a lot better on defense. I'm pressuring the ball better, moving my hands more to rattle the offensive player, keeping my girl turned to one side. (Simpson) has some really good tips for me.”
Simpson could give tips on offense too. She was a big-time scorer at Zion-Benton and led the Zee-Bees to a North Suburban Lake Division crown. Her senior year she averaged a double-double and recorded multiple triple- and quadruple-doubles over her career, between points, rebounds, assists and steals.
And yet, even as one of the best “Bees” in program history, there wasn't a lot of “buzz” surrounding Simpson from the outside.
She didn't play AAU ball until the summer after her junior year, and only because Kristin Cartwright, a star at Lake Forest at the time, recommended Simpson to the coaches at Full Package. Cartwright is the daughter of former Bulls player Bill Cartwright and went on to play at Northwestern.
“I really didn't know much about AAU, about college ball or about being recruited,” Simpson said. “I didn't really understand how huge a platform AAU is, and it was also very expensive. But Full Package really helped me out and the Cartwright family really took me in, driving me to practices and treating me like a daughter.
“It turned out to be a great experience for me. I remember we were at this one tournament in Atlanta and my Full Package coach (Steve Pratt) told me that this one girl on the other team was going to UConn. I said, ‘Put me on her. I definitely want to guard her.' I think I did pretty well … because after that tournament, things started going crazy for me with recruiting.”
Simpson, who created a defensive identity for herself at the tournament in Atlanta, suddenly had all kinds of offers coming in and narrowed her finalists to Illinois, Texas A&M, Marquette and Mississippi State.
“The decision for me was academics first and I did a lot of research about what a good school Illinois is,” said Simpson, the first in her immediate family to go to college. “Some people (at Zion-Benton) gave me a hard time and told me I wouldn't be able to handle it at Illinois.”
Just the opposite happened. Simpson wound up being named academic all-Big Ten.
She also handled the serious demands of former head coach Jolette Law. Simpson signed with former Illinois coach Theresa Grentz, whom she still stays in touch with and calls a mother figure. But Grentz was replaced after Simpson's freshman year.
“Coach Law was very, very intense,” Simpson said. “There were times when I wondered if basketball in college was what I really wanted to do, because I knew that I was going to get to practice and she was going to work me to the bone.
“But I realized that if you want to be really good, that's the type of work you have to put in. Coach Law pushed me to a level I never thought I was capable of. She brought out the best in me.”
By Simpson's senior year, the underdog Illini made one of the best runs in Big Ten tournament history. As the No. 9 seed, they defeated No. 1 seed Ohio State and advanced all the way to the championship game, losing on a buzzer-beater to Purdue. At the time, a No. 9 seed had never before gotten to the championship game.
That year, Simpson received all kinds of recognition for her defense. She ranked seventh in the nation in steals.
None of those accomplishments has been lost on the girls at Grayslake Central.
“I think our girls were super excited about Lacey when they found out about her reputation. I mean, she was a big-time player in the Big Ten,” Ikenn said. “But I think they were also curious. Just because you're a really, really good player doesn't mean you'll be a good coach. But it turns about Lacey is a really good coach, too.
“She's fiery, she holds the kids accountable. She makes them work hard. It's been great because her and I share a lot of very strong core beliefs. She just fits with us and she's got those credentials where she can go out and say, ‘Listen, when I was at Illinois, this is what I did. When I was with the San Antonio Stars (of the WNBA), this is what I did.' She can bring it alive for the kids and that is big. She's a great role model in that regard.”
Simpson, who is happy with her current full-time job in Lake County government but is open to an expanded career in coaching, wishes she had had a Lacey Simpson to look up to when she was in high school.
“I think it would have been so cool to work with someone in high school who played in college, someone who could have shared those experiences with me,” Simpson said. “That's a big part of why I wanted to get into coaching. I wanted to come back home to Lake County and give back to the players here now.”
pbabcock@dailyherald.com
• Follow Patricia on Twitter: @babcockmcgraw