Much rejoicing for father-daughter coaching tandem

NORMAL -- State tournaments and Redbird Arena are nothing new to Corry and Deryl Carter.

Oops, I mean Corry Irvin and Deryl Carter.

The first time Irvin and Carter -- Elgin's most famous father and daughter coaching team -- brought Whitney Young here for the state finals in 2005, Corry's last name was still Carter, the 1992 Larkin graduate who remains one of the finest girls basketball players I ever had the honor to cover.

She's Corry Irvin now, married to Mack, and expecting their first child in July. But with all due respect to Mack, Corry will always be a Carter to me. She and my sister will always be the top two reasons I started getting absorbed in girls basketball so many years ago.

Corry is also still the girls basketball coach at Whitney Young High School in Chicago and she's still bringing her Dolphins to Redbird Arena for the state finals, this weekend being the third time in the last four years.

And her dad, Deryl, is still her assistant and still living in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Elgin's west side that Corry, sister, Katy, and brother, Deryn, grew up in. Deryl and wife Marlene stay visible around town (see ya at Hoopers soon, guys), Katy is still an Elgin police officer and Deryn an assistant men's coach at Missouri-St. Louis.

The difference this year is that Young finally reached the elusive state championship game. After finishing third in 2005 and 2006, and then missing the trip to state last year, the coaching Carters directed their squad to a 38-32 win over Buffalo Grove in Friday night's Class 4A state semifinals, putting them into Saturday's title game against Bolingbrook.

And with smiles all around, Corry, Deryl and the Young contingent left Redbird Arena Saturday night with the big prize after beating Bolingbrook 54-45 in the championship game.

Playing for a state championship -- finally -- also helped relieve some of the stress that comes with being pregnant and coaching at an inner-city school at the same time.

"In some ways it is," Corry said Friday night when asked if getting to the state title game was a weight off her shoulders after not making it in her team's other two trips here.

"Last year (when Young lost to New Trier 45-43 in the Sweet Sixteen) left us with a real hole, even more so than the other two years. But I thought this group could do it."

Deryl Carter is quick to remind us that the other two times he and Corry brought Young to state, the Dolphins lost in the semifinals to great teams.

"The first time, we got beat by (undefeated) Peoria Richwoods and they won state, then the next year we lost to Bolingbrook and they won it," he said. "We thought we had really great teams those years, and we were happy with (third place), but this is better."

Deryl still works in sales, which allows him the time to coach. Not that driving from Elgin to the United Center neighborhood every day is an easy task, but he wouldn't have it any other way right now. Remember, this is a guy, who with wife, Marlene, made a name for himself by coaching the District 13 Big League softball all-stars to four straight state championships between 1994 and 1997 while helping develop daughter Katy into the All-American catcher she became at DePaul.

"This is a chance for Corry," Deryl said Saturday afternoon while the Dolphins watched city rival Marshall win the Class 3A championship. "She was always the basketball player but I never had a chance to be part of her success, so this is just great. It's special to me and important to me because this team is like a family."

Anyone who watches Corry coach knows she's intense. She lets officials have it when she feels it necessary, and if her kids aren't playing to their potential, she lets them know it. That's why having her dad on the bench for the past six years has meant as much to the program's 177-36 record under Corry than anything. Their teams won three straight Chicago city titles, a streak that, ironically, ended this year.

"Niceness," Corry smiled when asked what her dad brings to the team. "He brings a fatherly sense to us."

Deryl couldn't be happier. Not only does he get to spend quality time with his daughter, but he gets to be a part of the Young family of girls basketball as well.

"We have a good system," he said. "I'm more the developer of what she wants to do. She plans the practices and I do a lot of the coaching. For me it's a sacrifice and lot of time but she's very good with me. I'm still in sales and I still travel and when I can't be there, she understands. It's still a lot of fun and it's not getting old at all.

"Now I'll have a new challenge with a grandchild and the kid will be a part of the team. It's just great to be a part of it all."

As different as night and day is the lifestyle of the Whitney Young student to that of the Larkin life Corry grew up with in Elgin.

Maybe that's one reason she has such success -- that and the fact Young is a magnet school, gets really smart kids, and is one of the top academic schools in the state.

"She's been our coach for seven years and I have never had a coach in the building who focuses on academics like she does," said Young principal Dr. Joyce Kenner. "Every lunch period she has a kid studying with her. She's been outstanding for the program and she's been a tremendous coach for Whitney Young. Not one kid has ever even gotten a detention in her seven years.

"She's strict, but you can see the results. It's a pleasure to have her."

The kids at Young don't get out of the city much -- unless they play for Corry and Deryl of course.

"The lifestyle is very different," Corry says. "We have kids riding the El at 6-7 at night and we're more concerned with safety issues than anything."

Recently Corry, who lives in Chicago, has started to bring her team out to Elgin to spend time doing community service at The Learning Tree and then doing things at Deryl and Marlene's house, fun stuff like treasure hunts.

The Dolphins also played in tournaments in California and Virginia this season and made a trip to Detroit as well.

"It gives them a different aspect of life," Corry said. "You live in the city and you just don't know that aspect of life outside the city."

Exteriors aren't true colors sometimes, and anyone who doesn't think Corry Irvin cares deeply for the kids in her program doesn't know Corry like I do. She has a passion for her kids, her family and the game of basketball that is hard to match.

"This team is special," she said. "(Playing for the state championship) means a lot for all the years of hard work."

And that goes for Young's coaches as much as the players.

Congrats on the state title, coach Carters. You've worked hard for it, you earned it and you deserve it.

Fox Valley connection: Mark Leffler, a former dean of students at Bartlett and now the principal at Sycamore High School, and Scott Klingberg, a longtime Elgin resident, were two of the floor officials for Saturday night's Class 4A championship game. They worked with Sharon Brosius of Tinley Park, one of the best female officials in the game.