Wright, McCurtain enjoy transition into coaching

During the course of the high school basketball season, I often run into several familiar faces - on the court, on the bench and in the stands.

Some are returning players I covered the previous season.

Some are referees I've seen throughout the years.

Some are veteran coaches I've worked with over the past 20-plus years.

Some are parents, neighbors and students who are friends with my children.

Others are former players who have returned to the bench and traded in their uniforms and gym shoes for clipboards, dress shoes and street clothes.

They all share something in common - the love of the game.

Take Eric Wright and Sean McCurtain, for example. Wright, a 2004 graduate of St. Charles East, and McCurtain, a 2001 graduate of Geneva, had never played against one another before their paths suddenly crossed last fall when they joined the basketball coaching staff as varsity assistants at St. Charles East.

The progression only seemed natural for Wright considering he was a starting point guard for the Saints and coach Brian Clodi before going on to play 4 more years in Wisconsin at Ripon College.

"This is his dream - to be at St. Charles East," said Clodi. "People forget how good a high school player Eric was. He finished his career with back-to-back 30-point games. Obviously I was familiar with Eric - we've always had a tight relationship. Eric had the advantage of already knowing our system and playbook."

Things were a little different for McCurtain, who was a starting center for former coach Tim Pease's Vikings before forgoing college athletics to attend the University of Iowa.

"I was a Geneva product who completed my student teaching at Geneva High School last year," said McCurtain. "But when Geneva hired (current head coach Phil) Ralston for its English department, I jumped at the chance to become an English teacher and coach at St. Charles East."

"Sean was more of an innocent bystander coming in because he had to learn what our basketball program was all about as well as our expectations," said Clodi. "He got put into the mix late but I knew he had a strong basketball background."

McCurtain admittedly had somewhat more of a learning curve upon his arrival at St. Charles East.

"My main responsibility was to be a sponge - to try and soak in the vast playbook and basically get my bearings," said McCurtain. "When I went over the playbook Coach Clodi handed me, I was just astounded at the amount of plays gathered in it over the years."

Their rookie coaching campaigns couldn't have started on a more difficult note as the Saints opened the season with 11 consecutive defeats.

That's also when Clodi knew these guys belonged.

"With all that adversity, they still wanted to come to practice and change things around," said the coach. "They realized how hard we were working yet still coming up short. But they came to the next practice with the same energy and passion and continued to study game films."

"It goes way beyond just winning and losing," said Wright. "It's a life memory to play prestigious programs like St. Joe's and Proviso East. And every game besides the St. Joe's game, we were within 10 points late.

"To the credit of our kids, we never had team chemistry problems. It just pushed the guys to work harder."

For McCurtain, the slow start brought back memories from his high school career.

"During my four years at Geneva, our varsity football team won one game - and that was against a first-year Vernon Hills team without seniors," said McCurtain, whose most memorable basketball game came during a regional overtime loss to host St. Charles.

"That was a (Saints) team with Rob Klemm, Pete Schmit and the Regan brothers (Eric and Sean)."

Both Wright and McCurtain learned the game from different perspectives this past season.

"I learned so much more about the game," said Wright, who handled bench personnel decisions alongside McCurtain. "As a player, I never knew how much a coach had an impact on a game. I didn't realize that until now."

"The biggest difference between playing and coaching for me was that you can say all you want, draw plays and urge kids what to do as a coach but they're the ones doing it," said McCurtain. "You don't have control of the game from that aspect."

And they both enjoyed themselves.

"It was a blast," said McCurtain. "But it was demanding. I knew that I would put in a lot of hours but I didn't realize it would eat up as much time as it did. "I love basketball and I love coaching, and I'm glad to have the chance again."

"I enjoyed it 1,000 percent," said Wright, a business administration major who plans on working toward his teaching certificate. "I loved just being around the team and I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to be around.

"I can't wait until next year."

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