For Warren’s Paasch, a second chance at life includes coaching her sons

Warren Township High School boys volleyball is a family affair.

The past few seasons have seen six sets of brother combinations. Two of them are coach Kim Paasch’s own children

A 1998 Warren graduate and girls volleyball player there under her maiden name of Kim Wooster, for the last two seasons Paasch has had her sons, Joel and Kyle, on the team.

This season Warren went 31-8, the program’s second-best mark behind the 34-5 team of 2008. At Grant the Blue Devils boys won their first regional title since 2014.

Joel Paasch, headed to play at Benedictine University, is a setter with all-state honors this spring. Incoming junior Kyle Paasch started at libero his first two years on varsity.

Older brother Brandon Paasch plays tennis at North Central College, all-state in singles as a senior at Warren.

“He was our volleyball defector,” his mother said.

Kim, Joel and Kyle Paasch get the same question all the time. Still, you’ve got to ask it.

What’s it like with mom as coach?

“It’s been great,” said Kim Paasch, who as a senior in 1997 helped Warren go 36-3, still the girls’ best record, and helped the program reach its first supersectional.

“I don’t mess around, and they know it, and so they’re very well-behaved and willing to listen. I think they probably would say I’m a little bit harder on them than I am on the others but not a lot harder. I think it’s been a really good experience for all three of us,” she said.

It almost didn’t happen. An English teacher who started at Warren in 2004, Paasch had several years, notably 2012-21, when she left volleyball or limited her responsibilities to care for her children.

The boys grew up, but mom encountered health issues — Type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune disorder Hashimoto’s disease, and the rare Addison’s disease, another autoimmune disorder which initially went undiagnosed.

“They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me,” Paasch said. “I was having trouble standing up for five minutes in the shower, let alone thinking I’d ever coach again.”

Fortunately, during a 17-day hospital stay in 2022, an endocrinologist recognized the symptoms “and saved my life,” Paasch said.

When the varsity position opened in 2024, she took it.

“Once I got on the medication it was a complete life-changer, back to my old self,” Paasch said. “It’s been wonderful. I’ve absolutely loved it.”

‘Melancholy’

That was how Batavia High School boys track and field coach Dennis Piron felt about his final Illinois High School Association meet last weekend in Charleston.

Junior Darin Ashiru made it a little less painful with his sixth-place finish Saturday in Class 3A triple jump.

Retiring as a business and mathematics teacher, Piron also relinquished his head coaching position in boys track but will continue next season as head football coach.

Piron’s 28 seasons as head track coach, starting in 1999, were highlighted by the Class 3A title in 2022, a low-scoring meet clinched by a Bulldogs victory in Piron’s favorite event, the 1600-meter relay.

(We used to call it the “meet-ending 1600-meter relay,” but those pole vaulters take forever.)

Piron said the administration is working through the process of establishing a new head coach. He believes “strong consideration should be given” to Bulldogs cross country coach Bronco Meeks.

“I think Bronco would be an outstanding leader for the track program,” said Piron, himself a true program builder.

Piron will remain Batavia’s head football coach in a transitionary period until his successor is made official. He said more details should be announced later this summer.

“I think I’ll be more of a coach than I’ve ever been, than an administrator, which is nice,” said Piron, who led his first summer football session on Monday.

It’s not nice for opponents. His record is 151-29 with 11 conference championships in 14 seasons, not counting the spring 2021 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the playoffs every applicable year, Piron’s postseason record of 36-12 includes the 2013 Class 6A title and the 2017 7A title.

On March 28 in Champaign, Piron and others such as former Prospect, Wheeling and Grayslake Central coach Brent Pearlman were inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com