Marmion names Ryan Paradise new coach

Marmion's transition game has definitely clicked this summer.

That's off the basketball court, at least. Even while confirming that Rashon Burno had moved from Marmion's head varsity coaching spot to an assistant's position at Towson University, Cadets athletic director Joe Chivari suggested he had a man ready to assume control.

The official installation came little more than a week after Burno's July 27 resignation. Marmion has hired former Naperville Central All-Area guard Ryan Paradise, Marmion's first-year freshman coach last season, to succeed Burno.

"My impression that I gathered from him as a freshman coach last year is he is mature beyond his age," Chivari said of Paradise, 25, whose injuries sabotaged his career at Northern Illinois University from 2003-08.

"He has shown a knowledge of the game - albeit with the freshman - but just in conversations with him and watching him work with Coach Burno I think he has enough knowledge of the game to be an asset to the Marmion program," Chivari said.

Under Paradise's guidance, the freshman Cadets finished with an overall record of 16-7, 5-3 and second place in the Suburban Christian Conference's Blue division.

A 6-foot guard who made a school-record 153 three-point baskets at Naperville Central and had a career-high 38 points against Glenbard North, Paradise averaged 19.5 points and 5.2 rebounds his senior year with the Redhawks in a second straight All-Area season.

Wrist injuries abbreviated his playing career at Northern Illinois and a broken nose requiring surgery ended it. Paradise averaged 6.7 points in 70 games over three seasons with the Huskies, rocking Marist with a collegiate-high 23 points on Dec. 29, 2006.

Paradise earned a degree in corporate communications from NIU in December 2007, and Chivari noted Paradise is working on teacher's certification at Aurora University he hopes will lead to a teaching spot at Marmion. In addition to coaching Marmion's freshmen in 2009-10, Paradise has coached Amateur Athletic Union basketball.

"We feel confident he'll do a good job," Chivari said. "He relates well with the kids, the kids relate well with him. That's the most important thing - having a coach who motivates the kids and gets them to play hard. In the short time since we hired him he's already jumped in with both feet."