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Baseball: Mazzuca steps down as Stevenson's coach

Stevenson's unexpected postseason baseball run extended Paul Mazzuca's run as coach.

It wasn't going to make him reconsider his decision, however.

His time had run out, simply.

Following the Patriots' 3-1 loss to Jacobs in the Class 4A Rockford Aviators supersectional last week, Mazzuca told his players he was resigning to spend more time with his young family, which includes two baseball-playing boys.

"I kind of knew going into this last season that this would be it," said Mazzuca, who's been a faculty member and baseball coach at Stevenson for the last 17 years. "I just didn't want to say anything to anybody and make it a distraction. I wanted to keep the focus on our players and our program, where it should be."

Mazzuca succeeded longtime coach Bob Mackey as head coach in 2008. In his eight seasons, he went 190-86, including 35-4 in 2010, when Stevenson went to state for the first time and finished third. The Patriots won five regional championships under the Rolling Meadows graduate.

"I knew when I took the job eight years ago that I was going to give myself an 8-10-year window to evaluate where I wanted to be," Mazzuca said. "At that time I had two small kids."

Now, Dominic is 11 and Joe is 7. And Mazzuca wants to coach them and spend more time with them.

"I knew I was not going to be a 'lifer,' that's for sure," said Mazzuca, 48. "When my sons are through playing sports or band or whatever, maybe I'll think about going back to coaching."

Stevenson drew the No.-8 seed in its own sectional complex this season but stunned top-seeded Glenbrook North in the regional final at Palatine and ousted No. 5 Glenbrook South and No. 3 Mundelein in the sectional to advance to its second supersectional in six seasons. The Patriots' postseason success didn't cause him to second-guess his decision to resign.

"If I did come back, then I knew it wouldn't be for the right reason," said Mazzuca, who teaches advanced placement U.S. History. "The right reason should always be what's best for Stevenson baseball and not what's best for me. But I couldn't have drawn it up any better."

He has no regrets, in short. The Patriots finished 27-12-1 this past season.

"I would have loved to win up at Rockford, but it was a great season and an absolutely special group of players," Mazzuca said. "We bonded real close our on spring trip in Vero Beach (Fla). It was just a tight-knit group the entire season. We had great leadership by (Willie) Bourbon and Jimmy Marchese. It was just an absolute wonderful group of young men to coach and to go out with."

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