Geneva picks Ralston for basketball coach

Around 40 people applied for the varsity boys basketball coaching job at Geneva.

Eleven were interviewed since early April. One of the 11 was Phil Ralston, who stood out above the rest and was officially named the Vikings' new coach Tuesday night at a Geneva school board meeting.

Ralston will also teach English at the high school, which was one of the main reasons he was hired.

"We were looking for someone who not only had a strong basketball background, but one who could teach," Geneva athletic director Jim Kafer said. "He fills the need in both categories."

Ralston takes over for Tim Pease, who coached for 15 years before resigning in March to spend more time with his family.

The Vikings capped the 2007-08 season with a 17-12 record.

"I'm fortunate," Ralston said. "This is a great opportunity…I'm grateful for Jim Kafer (principal) Tom Rogers, the administration and the board of education for this. It's something I'm very excited about."

Ralston spent the last decade at Grant High School, where he was an assistant for 2 years and head coach for 8 seasons. At Grant, he also coached golf and cross country.

"I made a lot of good friendships (at Grant)," said Ralston, whose varsity team went 16-12 this past season. "There's some outstanding kids there who gave everything they had."

Ralston's coaching background also includes 2 years as a graduate assistant at Northwestern, a year as an assistant at Deerfield and another year as an assistant at Trinity University in Deerfield.

Ralston wanted the job at Geneva not only for its strong athletic tradition, but for academics as well.

"From a teaching standpoints, it's an excellent academic school," said Ralston, who currently lives in Round Lake. "Geneva has a high level of basketball and the facilities are outstanding. The kids are competitive."

Kafer described Ralston as "articulate" and a "great communicator" because of his teaching background.

He graduated from the University of Minnesota before earning his Masters from Northwestern and teaching certificate from Loyola University.

"He has a real passion for wanting to work with young people and being successful," Kafer said.