In its 25th year, D-C program staple of consistency

There are many ways to build a successful high school sports program.

Dundee-Crown girls basketball coach Joe Komaromy could write a textbook on the subject.

When Komaromy's Chargers take the floor against Streamwood Wednesday night in the season-opener at the D-C Thanksgiving tournament, it will mark the beginning of the 25th season of Dundee-Crown basketball. And Komaromy has been at the helm for all 25 years, something you just don't see much of anymore in any high school sport.

"I still enjoy it," the personable and highly respected Coach K says. "If it weren't for the fact we have such good people and that I've had such good assistant coaches over the years I'm not sure it would have lasted this long."

Not all of Komaromy's teams have been great. There have been some darn good ones -- the one that went to state in the first year of the merged Dundee and Crown programs in 1984 as well as the Sweet Sixteen teams of 1998 and 2003 come to mind first. But one thing you always know when you play against D-C is that you're going to get a competitive game from a hard-working bunch of girls that are coached well and coached the right way.

"Talent's going to come and talent's going to go," Komaromy said. "The goal is to be consistently competitive every year and we feel we have been."

I'd say so. In Komaromy's 24 seasons at D-C, his teams have had winning records 20 times, including a streak of 13 in a row that was ended two years ago The Chargers have won nearly 450 games during Komaromy's tenure.

"I'm not saying we work harder than other coaches but we work hard," he says.

The work ethic Komaromy has instilled in the program is one of the reasons so many -- well over a dozen -- of his players have come back to coach in his program at one time or another. That list includes current varsity assistant Melissa Tarrant and sophomore coach Michelle Russell, who is still the program's all-time leading scorer.

Then there's people like longtime assistant Tom Smith, Tracy Vrba and Shawna Jensen, assistant coaches who made Komaromy's job so much easier.

"That's one of the reasons I enjoy coaching," said Komaromy, whose career is actually in its 26th season including the 1982-83 campaign at Crown. "I enjoy the camaraderie with all these people. It's been enjoyable and it's been rewarding. And I've been very blessed with great parents these 26 years and that's another thing that's helped me keep going."

But it also gets more taxing as the years go on. In addition to being the head coach of his team, Komaromy runs the D-C Thanksgiving tournament, the Charger Classic Christmas tournament (still the best in the state), a fall league and a summer league. He and wife Kathy (clearly his biggest supporter( have put their three children -- Scott, Allison and Kristin -- through school and they now await Scott's return home from Iraq with as much anticipation as that of the new basketball season.

"It's never-ending," Komaromy says of coaching high school basketball. "It' not just the four months of the season and I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say that's starting to get a little old."

Will this be Coach K's swan song? He won't let on one way or another just yet. He will retire as a teacher in District 300 in June and whether he'll coach next year or not is still up in the air.

"I look back and think where have all the years gone," said the IBCA Hall of Famer. "It seems like yesterday Tarrant was playing for me and now she's coaching for me. Did I ever think it would be like this? No. When Buck Sayre called me in and asked me to coach girls basketball at Crown I never though it would last this long."

Well, Joe, I know a whole lot of people - present company included - who will be eternally grateful that it has, and who hope that this isn't the end.

Class 2A or 3A: There appears to be some confusion on which class Hampshire, D-C's sister D300 school, will be in under the four-class system next year. Let's clear it up. While the IHSA takes enrollment figures reported to the state board of education in September to determine next year's classifications, IHSA executive director Marty Hickman told the Daily Herald's Jerry Fitzpatrick Saturday night in Normal that when a school district draws new boundaries that increase (or decrease) a school's enrollment by a significant percentage, as D300 will do prior to the opening of the new Hampshire High School in the fall, the IHSA normally disregards the September enrollment figure and re-classifies that school to ensure fairness. As the new Hampshire school is expected to open with 1,000 students, that would mean the Whip-Purs will compete in Class 3A next year in the five sports that have four classes.

Awesome: If you haven't seen it yet, go to dailyherald.com and check out staff photographer Brian Hill's slide show from this past weekend's state girls volleyball tournament. It's worth the time to take a look at.

Payne skills camp: Former high school coach Kent Payne will direct a Be The Best Skills Camp this Saturday at the Schaumburg Sports Center. The one-day camp will run from noon until 2:30 p.m. for boys in grades 6-8 and from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for girls in grades 6-8. Cost of the camp is $25. For further information, contact Payne at (630) 235-3362 or via e-mail at bethebestskills@yahoo.com.