Maisto named BC's interim coach
The last time Wade Maisto was a head varsity girls basketball coach, there was no 3-point shot.
"When I started we were still sharing basketballs with the boys because the smaller ball (for girls) hadn't even come in yet," Maisto laughed.
But even though he stepped away from the game as a varsity coach in 1988, Maisto has never been very far from it as he's remained a teacher, a junior high basketball coach, an assistant athletic director and a head and assistant softball coach at Burlington Central.
Now, for one season, he will return to the bench as the Rockets' varsity girls basketball coach, stepping in for Darlene Guyett, who is taking a one-year family leave of absence from coaching.
"It's going to be my team but this is still Darlene's program," Maisto said Friday after being chosen over three other applications to be the Rockets' interim coach.
"I'm just the interim coach. Darlene still runs the Central girls basketball program. When I'm done I want Darlene to know that the girls have developed and they've all become better. I want Darlene to come back and see that we've made progress."
The program certainly has under Guyett, who is 58-54 in her four years at Central, but 42-17 in the last two seasons, including a school-record 23 wins in 2006-07, which broke the 22 wins the Rockets had under Maisto in 1986-87, when they lost to St. Edward in the sectional championship at Marengo.
In three years (1986-88) Maisto was 48-26 coaching BC girls basketball teams. He made a bigger name for the Rockets' softball program, going 334-104 in 15 years with two trips to the Elite Eight.
An inductee to the Illinois Coaches Association Hall of Fame, he has spent the last four years assisting 10th-year head softball coach Scot Sutherland continue that tradition as the Rockets' softball program has gone 114-14 in the past four seasons. Maisto's senior daughter, Erica is a standout pitcher and outfielder for the Rockets and his sophomore daughter Jordan, who plays the infield, is the basketball team's point guard.
"I've been very lucky," Maisto said. "I've been able to be an assistant with Scot with my daughters playing and now I get to coach Jordan for another year in basketball."
Maisto, a 1976 Larkin graduate, spent four years as Central's eighth-grade girls basketball coach so he knows his personnel well, which made it easier for him to apply for the job.
"I just want to see Central be competitive in girls basketball," he said. "It came open and I looked at the situation and I thought for one year it would be fun. I've coached some of these girls before and being at all the games and paying attention, I know the teams in the conference and I know the teams in the area."
To Burlington Central athletic director Dan Cliffe, Maisto's experience was hard to overlook, among other things.
"He's in the building and he's got a lot of experience," Cliffe said. "He's done a good job of coaching girls in the past."
Maisto will have two returning starters -- his daughter and Taylor Colby -- from a team that went 19-11 this past season but graduates standouts Cory Bazany and Melanie Laird. Juniors Katie McNutt and Amanda Smith also saw significant playing time this season.
"We've got some holes to fill but we'll work hard this summer and we expect to be a competitive team that has a lot of fun," Maisto said.