Treiber leaving thriving Glenbard South program

A good thing about the pension and benefits system in Illinois public education is it allows men and women to retire while still in the prime of their lives, able and eager to pursue their interests and, if desired, contribute professionally.

A bad thing about the system is it boots out men and women while still in the prime of their lives, able and eager to contribute professionally and, if desired, to pursue their interests.

This is the predicament John Treiber faces. His 12 years as Glenbard South’s athletic director and 33 years in education will expire next May when he turns 55.

“I’m not really looking forward to leaving my position,” he said. “It’s something I love doing.”

Treiber will be reminded of the many reasons why Friday during a school celebration of the Raiders’ athletic success this fall. The roundup features a Class 2A runner-up finish in girls cross country (Diane Lipa third individually), a fifth-place finish by boys cross country (including John Wold’s individual title), a sixth-place state finish by the boys golf team and program records for victories by the football and girls volleyball teams.

During Treiber’s tenure Glenbard South has won 10 of its 11 state trophies, including the last two Class 3A championships by Julie Fonda’s softball team.

“I told our new principal, Sandy Coughlin, it’s not something you can expect year after year,” Treiber said. “We’ve had such a great run, but it has been nice to see what the kids can do at the state level.”

That brings up another good news-bad news case. Treiber advocated class expansion in sports other than football, which had already bulked up to eight classes by the time he made the push. Some see class expansion watering down state series; others value greater opportunities. Treiber is in the latter camp, and his urging came to fruition in the 2007-08 academic year.

“This allowed other people to see our great athletes go to state (tournaments),” said Treiber, thinking of one such as Austin Teitsma, the 2010 Class 2A second-place heavyweight wrestler. “We’d be sending them to regionals and sectionals and they wouldn’t be able to get out.”

Treiber said as individual and team success has increased at Glenbard South, so has participation.

Participation throughout District 87 was in doubt during the darkest days of Treiber’s time at Glenbard South. With budget cuts looming in the early years of last decade, he was faced with the prospect of cutting boys golf, boys and girls tennis, badminton and boys and girls gymnastics. He proudly recalled the football parents and athletes who attended board meetings in support of those sports, inevitably spared by user fees.

“Next to scheduling nine independent football games” — between the breakup of the Western Sun Conference and joining the Metro Suburban in 2010 — “that was the worst thing.”

He’s leaving on another high note, helping the Metro Suburban go from a five-team league to one that next year will be a 12-team, two-division conference with the addition of seven Suburban Christian Conference schools.

A high school and college baseball player from Willowbrook’s Class of ’77, out of Northern Illinois University Treiber went straight to Wheeling High School as a three-sport coach and physical education instructor. He had stays at Willowbrook and Elmwood Park, coaching as well, before he earned Type 75 Certification from Loyola-Chicago and became assistant athletic director and head of PE at Morton.

When the Glenbard South athletic director position opened up, a friend tipped him off.

“It was the best call I ever got,” he said.

A Bloomingdale resident with his wife, Cindy, Treiber said he’ll need to find gainful employment to put his boys, Trent and Hunter, through college. Trent’s a Lake Park senior going to the University of South Florida — he wants to be an engineer and design rides for Disney. Hunter is a sophomore golfer and baseball player whose contests Treiber will be able to see a bit more.

“Then I’ve got to find other hobbies, too,” he said. “My wife’s going to require that.”

Treiber has considered joining that corps of retired athletic directors, such as Naperville North’s Doug Smith and Naperville Central’s Ross Truemper, who in a pinch serve as interim ADs. He’s also inquired with former Wheaton Warrenville South AD Bob Quinn, now at Loras College in Iowa.

Treiber may try his hand at being a baseball scout; for more than a decade he ran clinics at the White Sox’s U.C. Cellular Field with former players such as Minnie Minoso, Moose Skowron and Bill Melton.

Whatever he does, Treiber believes he’s left his position at Glenbard South — which has drawn nearly 100 applications, he said — in good shape.

“I believe whoever gets this position will be set up pretty well now for the future,” he said.

Little dribbler

Montini boys basketball coach Brian Opoka said his wife, Donna, was due to deliver the couple’s first child Dec. 6. Thanksgiving came early when Donna went into labor at 2:45 a.m. Nov. 13. In a little while Ava Marie Opoka was born.

“The season is off to a bang,” the coach wrote in an email indicative of new fatherhood — sent at 5:33 a.m. last Friday.

Weighing in at 5 pounds, 16 ounces and 19 inches long, Opoka said he’ll be sure little Ava will be able to dribble using both hands.

“But to have her make (Montini girls basketball coach Jason) Nichols’ roster in 2027 she’s already behind!” he wrote.

United for Washington

DuPage Valley Conference cheerleading squads quickly rallied this week to support the people of Washington, parts of which were destroyed by a Category F4 tornado on Sunday.

In an effort begun by Mascoutah High School cheer coach Laurie Wager, word spread via social media and email of a collection drive of “hygiene kits” — toothpaste and brushes, bar soap, wash cloths, shampoo, combs, deodorant and lotion — to distribute to people in need.

Susie Knoblauch, the Illinois High School Association assistant executive director in charge of cheerleading, lives in Washington and once coached cheer and taught at the school. A college friend of Wager, Knoblauch is gathering the kits and will distribute them to local agencies serving Washington.

The DuPage Valley Conference effort will first deliver their haul Saturday to Oak Forest High School, the gathering center for the northern part of the state. Mascoutah was serving the south and Normal’s University High was handling Illinois’ central schools’ efforts.

Wheaton Warrenville South cheer coach Sam Nolte said she informed her team on Monday. By 3 p.m. Wednesday she had the equivalent of three shopping carts of goods, with more to come.

“The girls are really doing all the work for this,” Nolte said.

In an email Knoblauch said more than 50 cheer teams statewide had participated. She added she will also distribute donations or gift cards from teams to service agencies working on recovery efforts, and there may be a plan where cheer teams can “adopt” displaced Washington cheerleaders “and provide them with emotional support throughout the school year.”

“All of these tremendous efforts collectively support that cheerleaders are strong, giving leaders in their communities,” Knoblauch wrote.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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