Palatine goes with Millstone

Gyms have been a second home for Eric Millstone.

Millstone's dad Doug was Buffalo Grove's head boys basketball coach for 10 years. And Eric has spent the last 13 years coaching at Palatine.

Now Millstone gets his chance to run his own program. He was named Wednesday as the new head coach at Palatine, replacing Ed Molitor, who retired after 32 years at the school.

"I knew I wanted to get into coaching in some capacity," the 36-year-old Millstone said of his senior year in 1990 at Buffalo Grove when he played for his dad. "It's in the blood."

Doug Millstone also coached softball at Elk Grove and Buffalo Grove before retiring in 1999. Eric Millstone and his dad's former assistants, Steve Messer (Hersey) and Ryan O'Connor (BG), are among the seven Mid-Suburban League products coaching in the conference.

"I'm very happy," Doug Millstone said. "I told Steve the trifecta is complete with him, Ryan and Eric.

"He always wanted a head job and now he's got it."

Eric Millstone played basketball and baseball at BG and graduated from Illinois in 1994. He spent a year as a student teacher at Wheeling and worked in the basketball program with Pat Doyle and Tom Martindale.

Millstone has been at Palatine since then -- teaching English and coaching at the freshman level for five years before becoming Molitor's varsity assistant.

Millstone also spent seven years in the Palatine baseball program and regards retired head coach Jim Koller as a big career influence.

"The timing is real good and I feel I have a pretty good background," Millstone said. "Working under Ed the last 13 years, if you aren't ready after that, you just weren't doing your job."

Millstone went 1-3 as a head coach at the end of the 2001 season when Molitor had prostate cancer surgery. He also interviewed for openings at Fremd and Glenbrook South.

"When I walked out I knew I was ready," Millstone said of the opportunity to interview at Glenbrook South two years ago, "and it would be a matter of time and being in the right place at the right time.

"I'm really grateful I was able to stay home."

Which should help with the transition since the fundamental base instilled by Molitor is in place.

But Millstone also has his own imprints he wants to put on a team that finished 10-16 this season.

"Everything in basketball goes back to fundamentals, but you need to give teams things to think about as well," Millstone said. "Teams that rely on man-to-man (defense), you see them changing up a couple of minutes a game.

"Offensively I've always been a fan of trying to push the ball up the floor and get easy baskets. Kids have fun playing that way, but obviously the teams in the conference will have something to say about that."