St. Jospeh's basketball coach is winningest in state history

Sure, Carmel coach John Ryan would have liked to have seen his team get a win over St. Joseph on Jan. 16.

But watching his good friend make history was the next best thing, even if it came at his expense.

When St. Joseph defeated Carmel 49-26, it gave coach Gene Pingatore his 827th career victory and the distinction of being the all-time winningest boys basketball coach in the state of Illinois.

Ryan even had a plaque made for the occasion.

"He's like the Energizer Bunny," Ryan chuckled. "Gene just keeps on going. It's (827 wins) an awesome accomplishment. Just to last that long in anything is impressive, but to do so in such a high-pressure situation and to do so well along the way really says a lot about Gene."

"I was thrilled for Gene. And I was thrilled that I was able to be a part of his big moment in some way. I go back a long way with Gene."

A real long way.

Ryan and Pingatore played basketball at the same high school, St. Mel. Pingatore is 12 years older than Ryan, so they never played together. But Ryan knew all about Pingatore.

"Gene was a really good basketball player," Ryan said. "He was like a neighborhood legend and went on to play Division I basketball at Loyola in California.

"Even though he had been out of school (at St. Mel) for a while by the time I got there, people still talked about him."

Ryan finally met up with Pingatore in person during his senior year at St. Mel. Pingatore had taken a job at St. Joseph as the assistant boys basketball coach.

"I like to remind Gene that we beat St. Joseph that year," Ryan said with a laugh.

When Ryan got out of college, he worked at a grade school in Oak Park and ran massive youth basketball tournaments on the side. One year, a sixth grader named Isiah Thomas played in one of Ryan's tournaments.

Pingatore, by then the head coach at St. Joseph, was watching and, in the meantime, struck up a friendship with Ryan. When Thomas, who went on to star at Indiana University and then for the Detroit Pistons, enrolled at St. Joseph in 1977, Pingatore asked Ryan if he would come aboard, too, as an assistant coach.

"Gene taught me a lot about basketball - not just on the court, but with the way he helps kids get a college education and become better people," Ryan said. "A lot of what I've done in basketball over the last 30 years is because of Gene."

Ryan worked at St. Joseph from 1977 to 1999 and was an assistant for Pingatore for eight years until some personal issues temporarily sidetracked his coaching career. When it resumed, Ryan dabbled in girls and women's basketball with jobs at Immaculate Heart of Mary and DePaul before heading up to Carmel.

Ryan was the girls coach at Carmel for years before taking over the boys team this season.

"We had some great teams (at St. Joseph) in those eight years," Ryan said of his time as Pingatore's right-hand man. "The first four years, we went downstate three times."

But Pingatore wouldn't win his first (and only) state championship until 1999 when the Chargers got by Warren for the Class AA title.

And to think that was a full 30 years into Pingatore's coaching career. This season marks his 40th year in the business.

Blasts from the past: It's not like St. Joseph and Carmel are around the corner from each other.

The schools are separated by nearly 40 miles and plenty of stop-and-go traffic.

But that didn't hamper droves of St. Joseph fans from making the trek north Jan. 19 in the hope of seeing St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore make history and become the all-time winningest boys basketball coach in the state of Illinois.

Carmel's gym was packed, and many of the fans were from west suburban Westchester.

For Carmel coach John Ryan, who worked at St. Joseph for 22 years, some of them as Pingatore's assistant coach, the event was like one big reunion.

"I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years," Ryan said. "I got to catch up and renew a lot of old friendships. It was a really fun night."

Model of success: Clearly, with 827 wins to his credit, St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore boasts one of the best boys basketball programs in the state.

But, believe it or not, it's a program that was born out of very humble beginnings. Pingatore, whose milestone win against Carmel last Friday night made him the winningest coach in the state of Illinois, wasn't always quite so successful.

"In Gene's first three years, he had three losing seasons and in his first year, they won only three games," said Carmel coach John Ryan, who coached with Pingatore and worked at St. Joseph for 22 years before coming to Carmel. "But then it took off. I think that gives us hope."

Ryan is hoping to draw similarities between his first season at Carmel and Pingatore's start at St. Joseph.

Carmel is 5-14 and has lost nine of its last 12 games.

The Corsairs travel to St. Patrick on Friday in East Suburban Catholic Conference action.

"We're making progress," Ryan said of the Corsairs. "But it's a long-term project. We haven't had a winning season here in 17 years. It's not going to happen overnight, but we're going to turn that around. What we're trying to build here for the basketball program is like what they have (at St. Joseph)."

Ryan says the future looks bright.

There are only two seniors on the varsity and the sophomore team is 9-4, which bodes well for next season.

Two of the Corsairs' best players are juniors: 6-foot-7 center Mickey Baucus and 6-2 forward Jonathan Huisel.

"Mickey has really made a lot of stride in terms of being more aggressive with his moves to the basket," Ryan said. "The first half of the season, he was kind of like a guard trapped in a big man's body. He was shooting a lot of jump shots. But he's using his body a lot more and being aggressive going to the basket which helps us a lot because it gives us an inside game.

"And Jonathan has been getting hustle points for us all season. In the old days, we'd call him a garbage player, just hustling all over the place making plays. He just gets things done."

Ryan said Huisel has six to seven double-doubles on the season.