Former players prove you can come home again -- to coach

It's not that Bryan Dovichi minds re-living "the shot."

After all, his monster home run that cleared the Alexian Field fence in left field and helped Carmel win the 2004 Schaumburg supersectional against Maine West is really fun to think about. It's one of his very best memories from high school.

But here's the thing: Dovichi isn't in high school anymore.

He's simply back at his high school, coaching the same team he once starred for. However, he's determined to keep the focus on the players who are the stars now, rather than himself.

"When I was playing, a couple of the players we have now followed our team when they were younger," the 23-year-old Dovichi said. "Alex May was always around because of his dad (Joe, who is now Carmel's head coach and was an assistant back then). And I played with Brian Serio's brother (Mike). So Brian was always around.

"Those guys know all about what our team did, how we went downstate. They know about what I did that season and they'll bring up the Alexian Field home run sometimes and I'm just like 'Easy, guys.' It's nice (that they remember), but I guess now, I'd rather have them respect me as a coach than as a player."

Dovichi is just one of many former standout players from the area who return to their alma maters to coach while being not too far removed from their own glory days there.

It's a special situation that is beneficial not only to the former player, who can come back home and get coaching experience while also proudly "giving back" to the program that served him so well, but the program gets a big lift, too.

Many head coaches see the hiring of a young alum as a great tool on several fronts. They are adding an assistant who can relate to the current players generationally. And better yet, they're adding someone who "gets it," someone who has recently been there and done that within the very same parameters, someone who can tell of war stories and a recipe for success with authority.

"It always helps when you have someone who has a sense of the history of the program," Carmel coach Joe May said. "As part of a storied program such as Carmel's, the current players enjoy being part of the mystique that has been built as a result of the hard work of their predecessors (like Dovichi)."

At Carmel, Dovichi isn't the only former player on staff imparting such valued wisdom. Interestingly, his older brother Todd, a 1999 Carmel grad, also returned. And if that weren't enough, oldest brother Chris Dovichi, a Stevenson graduate but a Dovichi just the same, is a Carmel coach as well.

Meanwhile, Chris Malec, a star pitcher at Antioch in the early 2000s, has returned to coach the pitchers there and Clay Kovac, who graduated from Mundelein as one of its all-time best pitchers, has done the same thing at his alma mater.

Also former star pitcher Dave Behm became the head coach at Grant this season, just seven years after graduating from there himself. And Jason Acevedo has returned to Vernon Hills not long after his glory days to coach the underlevels there.

Here are a few of their stories:

Family affair (The Dovichis)

It's louder than usual in the Carmel dugout these days.

That's because the Dovichi brothers - Bryan, Todd and Chris - love talking about baseball. And, while they're at it, they can't help but acting like, well, brothers.

"It's easy to rile each other up, to get under each other's skin," laughed 31-year-old Chris, a grade school teacher who graduated in 1996 from Stevenson but has done all of his coaching at Carmel. He had been an underlevel coach there for the last eight years before moving up to varsity this year.

"We just tease each other about everything," Chris said. "The other night I was throwing batting practice and I was just getting all kinds of (grief).

"But it's pretty fun. I remember my dad (Dominick) would say that it was one of his dreams to have all four of us brothers in the same program. This is pretty close."

The Dovichis, all of whom are teachers, have another brother, Tim, a 2001 Stevenson grad who is coaching baseball at St. Edward in Elgin. Years ago, before Todd and Bryan arrived on the scene as coaches at Carmel, Tim coached at Carmel for one season with Chris.

"After one of Tim's last games (at St. Edward), I was talking to him on the way home for like an hour," 29-year-old Todd Dovichi said. "That's what Chris and Bryan and I will do after our games at Carmel. We love talking about baseball and about the games. Chris and I will talk for an hour or so, then Bryan and I will talk for an hour. Then the three of us might talk again.

"We all live pretty far from each other right now, so sometimes the only time we see each other is on the baseball field. We definitely appreciate that time together and we try to stay connected through it."

The Dovichis' baseball connection kept blazing even after high school.

Todd went to Trinity International University in Deerfield and was eventually joined there by Tim.

When Todd graduated, he joined the coaching staff at Trinity. Tim was still a player there.

Todd and Tim were eventually joined at Trinity by Bryan, who had just graduated from Carmel.

With Todd as their coach, Tim and Bryan led Trinity to its conference tournament and experienced an extraordinary moment when they both hit grand slams in the same inning.

"Playing with my brother and also for my brother at the same time was an amazing experience," Bryan said. "It's kind of like how it is with Chris and Todd and me getting to coach together now. We're a pretty close-knit group, so getting to do this is truly a blessing. The fact that we're also getting to coach together back at Carmel-I couldn't ask for more."

What commute? (Chris Malec)

Every day, Chris Malec makes the long train ride downtown to get to work.

He lives in Grayslake and is a clerk at the Chicago Board of Trade. He's training to be a trader.

"It's quite a commute," the 26-year-old Malec said. "But it's definitely worth it."

Part of the reason Malec lives so far from downtown is because of his second job, which really isn't a job at all. Call it more of a passion.

As soon as Malec gets off work, he races for the train station and heads north to Antioch, where he switches from his work clothes to his workout clothes.

This year, he joined the coaching staff at Antioch, where he starred as a pitcher and led the Sequoits to two regional titles before graduating in 2002.

Then, Malec moved on to the College of Lake County and eventually Michigan State, where he was a starter as a junior and a reliever as a senior after having to undergo surgery for a partially torn Tommy John ligament.

"I have pictures of all of our kids who go on to play Division I baseball, so Chris's picture is up. Our kids know he is the real deal, that he won 13 games his senior year and that he played at Michigan State," Antioch coach Paul Petty said. "Being around him is a great teacher and motivator for our players. Chris has gone on to a level of baseball that most kids don't get to."

And there's no going backwards for Malec, even though at times he's tempted.

When Petty was handing out uniforms, he gave Malec No. 39, the same exact number he wore when he was playing at Antioch.

"We've struggled at times this season and I still have the same desire to win that I always had-," Malec trailed off, suggesting that being in his old uniform makes him wish he could sneak in for a few innings of work on the mound every now and then. "The toughest part is not getting to play anymore. But what I can do is instill in the kids some of the values and lessons that I learned about what it takes to succeed in high school and at the next level."

Buddha's back (Clay Kovac)

It all started back during his high school days at Mundelein.

Clay Kovac began to carry around a trinket that looked like a Buddha.

Over time, the Buddha turned into a good-luck charm of sorts, and it always stayed nearby, even when he was on the mound pitching for the Mustangs.

Naturally, everyone started calling Kovac "Buddha." It became his official nickname.

Clearly, old habits die hard.

"I still call him Buddha," Mundelein baseball coach Todd Parola said with a laugh. "And our kids have no idea why I call him that."

Well, the current Mustangs have just learned something new about their newest assistant coach.

"Yeah, sometimes, (Parola) will turn to me and say, 'Buddha, I wish we could still put you out there on the mound,' " said the 25-year-old Kovac, who still has the Buddha trinket and keeps it hanging in his car. "I just laugh."

But Kovac's success at Mundelein was no joke.

He starred on the mound for the Mustangs for three years, winning more than 30 games over his career and leading the team downstate as a junior in 2002. He was also named to the all-state team twice.

After a four-year college career that included stops at Michigan State and Indiana State, Kovac was ready to move into the next phase of his baseball career: coaching.

"I really love being back at Mundelein and being around Coach Parola again," said Kovac, who is also trying to get a full-time teaching job in physical education. "He's one of my biggest mentors and I really look up to him and his work ethic and how he is around school and around the kids. That's the way I want to be, so I really appreciate the opportunity he's given me to coach with him."

And Kovac truly is coaching with Parola, and not just for him. This isn't some favor that Parola is doing for a former star. Kovac, who runs his own business giving pitching lessons, is filling a big need.

Long-time pitching coach Neil McLoughlin semi-retired before this season and Parola needed to find someone he trusted for the spot.

"When I first started, (Parola) told me straight up that I would be in charge of the pitchers and I pretty much have been," Kovac said. "He's given me full freedom to work with the guys the way I want to and I'm even calling pitches during games. It's been great.

"I love my life right now."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com