Roberts steps in at Round Lake

Jim Roberts was not a happy fifth-grader when his dad Rich made a head coaching switch from basketball to football at Buffalo Grove.

But Roberts believes the transition helped pave the way to make his own happy career move. The former Lake Zurich star was chosen as Round Lake's new boys basketball head coach.

"I hated it because I loved basketball and wanted him to coach basketball," said Jim Roberts of his dad, who spent six years in charge of BG's basketball program and 18 leading the football program. "But I realized later he made the switch for a number of reasons and one of them was he could watch me play.

"Looking back I'm glad I had that football influence because it's part of my mentality and coaching style. I love Friday nights, like Tom Izzo at Michigan State."

Roberts would also like to bring the same type of stability and success to a Round Lake program that won its only regional titles in 1977 and 1988. He will be the fifth coach in eight seasons as he replaces Howard Kravets, who resigned after going 7-47 in two years.

Roberts is in his first year as a social studies teacher at Round Lake and coached the freshmen last season. He spent five years at Leyden, where he coached on the freshman, sophomore and varsity levels, and had one-year stops as a varsity assistant at Lincoln Park and Barrington.

"From when I was a little kid I always wanted to be a coach," said Roberts, who played four years at Northern Michigan University. "While playing in college and right out of college, this is a path I wanted to go down and a goal I always had.

"All of the steps I've taken - everything was with the ultimate goal in mind of becoming a head coach. I feel the experiences I've had put me in the position of being ready when I did get there - or as ready as I can be."

Roberts believes a year in the program and school helped give him a better idea of what needs to happen to make the Round Lake program successful.

"We're going to have good kids, kids who do the right things and kids who are leaders in school and kids who are respected by the other kids in our school," Roberts said. "We're going to do things the right way and eventually that stuff will pay off."

The Panthers have a solid core of players returning led by sophomore guard Juddon Carter, who already has two years of varsity experience. Roberts said they'll definitely be a man-to-man defensive team that pressures the ball and will be disciplined offensively.

Roberts also plans to give them summer tests that include a daylong trip to Chicago to practice with Lincoln Park and playing in league at Loyola Academy with teams such as New Trier and Notre Dame.

"We're going to try to play teams we don't usually play," Roberts said. "When I told our kids we were playing in the Loyola summer league a couple of them, their eyes lit up. They understand it will be a heck of a challenge."

One that Roberts is ready for as well.