Interesting transition games at Schaumburg, Barrington
Matt Walsh and Bryan Tucker begin their new boys basketball coaching adventures in the same place next week at the Rockford Boylan tournament.
Their situations couldn't be farther apart.
Walsh will be getting his first varsity head coaching experience with a Schaumburg program which has experienced the ultimate in Illinois high school boys basketball.
"That's the plan," Walsh said of continuing the 16-year run of winning seasons punctuated by the 2001 Class AA state title.
Tucker brings 13 years of success at Marian Catholic and Loyola to a Barrington program which has struggled through three straight losing seasons.
"I know what's out there," Tucker said with a laugh of his familiarity with the rugged Mid-Suburban West.
Tucker has also been here before as he went from 4 victories his first year at Marian to 19 in each of his last two seasons. Then he led Loyola to five regional titles and a sectional crown in a six-year span from 2003-08.
"At Loyola we inherited a little more talent, but there were still growing pains there and it took us awhile," Tucker said. "For any coach, it's a tough situation to inherit a team without much game experience. It will be even tougher on the kids with a new coach and a new system."
Tucker likes what he's seen in the early stages of the adjustment period.
"It isn't always easy," he said. "But I'm real pleased with how hard they've been working and they haven't gotten discouraged or frustrated when they haven't picked something up right away."
Walsh knows all about the success Schaumburg enjoyed the last 16 years under Bob Williams, who is now at Niles West. Now the former all-area guard and successful sophomore coach at nearby rival Conant gets his shot to continue that tradition.
Walsh isn't performing a major overhaul with a team which has a decent amount of returning experience.
"Schaumburg basketball is going to continue to be a lot more similar (to what it's been) than it is different," Walsh said. "We're going to continue to get out and guard people (man-to-man) and run a motion-based offense.
"The key components will stay the same with good ball movement and player movement and working together to get the shots we want to take."
The difference for Walsh is now getting used to all the other off-court responsibilities with running a varsity program. He considers himself fortunate to have assistant Luke Yanule back along with the return of former Schaumburg assistant and Maine West head coach Jim Sullivan.
"It's the business aspect of it that's been eye-opening," Walsh said. "But it's been fun and exciting."
Tucker said it has "worked out well" having former St. Viator football and basketball star Brian Hare as his varsity assistant and Joe Molloy as his sophomore coach. Molloy also played and coached at Viator and had a head-coaching stint at Carmel.
Tucker starts his Barrington tenure at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against perennial power Boylan. Walsh makes his varsity debut a day earlier at 5:45 p.m. when Schaumburg meets Rockford East.
Their transition games will be interesting to watch.
mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com