Softball: Dierks ready for final chapter after 30 years at Geneva

Whenever Geneva loses its next softball game, it will mark the end for one of the longest tenured coaches - and good guys - in the sport, Greg Dierks.

The Vikings begin play in the Class 4A Geneva regional on Monday as the No. 14 seed against No. 17 West Chicago. Win that and Geneva gets a shot at No. 1 seed Yorkville on Tuesday.

Geneva obviously is hoping to put off the end of its season as long as possible. Dierks knows he's going to miss coaching whenever that date arrives.

"I'm going to miss it terribly," he said.

Dierks, a math teacher at the high school, is retiring this year. He has been coaching Geneva's softball team for 30 years.

The Vikings honored Dierks before a recent game against St. Charles East. He surpassed 500 career wins last season, which was mentioned at the ceremony, along with recognizing one of the signature trademarks of Dierks - his ability to keep the scorebook while coaching third base, seamlessly going from flashing signs to writing down a 6-3 putout to encouraging his next batter.

Dierks said he still has every scorebook even dating back to his fresh-soph coaching days. He has compiled career statistics for every player he's coached.

"I enjoy that part of it," Dierks said. "It's fun."

Starting off with that first team in 1990, did Dierks think he would still be coaching the Vikings 30 years later?

"Not really," Dierks said. "But at the same time I do love doing this. I always loved playing ball. When I played I always tried to be the smartest guy on the field. I was never the most physically gifted. I was a fast runner, that was what I could do. I tried to be smarter than everybody so from that standpoint I think I was thinking like a coach even when I was playing."

The Vikings have made quite a climb since his first few seasons. In those early years they went through a 1-27 season along with other years of 22 and 24 losses.

But Dierks said those years were enjoyable, too.

"I think sometimes I did a better coaching job with our early teams that were inexperienced because I kind of knew what to do to work with them and I was nice to them," Dierks said. "I never thought it was their fault they hadn't played a lot of softball before. Sometimes with the better teams I have to rev myself up to another level to push them the right way."

That slow start was why when Dierks approached 500 wins last year he joked that after being 100 games under .500 he never thought he would get back to a .500 record - let alone 500 wins.

Geneva did that and then some. From 1997 on, the Vikings have finished over .500 in 16 of 21 seasons. They won regional titles in 2003, 2005 and 2010 and the only conference championship in school history in 2017.

"The turn we had, we had some move-ins and some kids in town that wanted to play ball more than just in the spring," Dierks said. "And it turned quickly. About 20 years ago when things started to take a turn it was a quality of kids who loved playing softball and this (year's team) is a nice group, too."

Along the way Dierks has coached a number of players who have gone on to play college softball including his daughter Ali, who will be a sophomore next year at DePauw University.

"Coach Dierks has been a staple of softball in the Tri-City area for many years," Geneva athletic director Dave Carli said. "We appreciate all the countless hours he has dedicated to the student-athletes during his career both in the classroom and the athletic fields at Geneva High School."

Dierks pointed to that conference championship season two years ago as a highlight of his career. He also mentioned a sectional win over No. 1 seed Glenbard North in 2003 - recalling basically every play in the game like it happened yesterday, not nearly 20 years ago.

While there will be a new coach at Geneva next spring, Dierks said you will still see him around. He joked about watching the games from the water tower that overlooks the field. He'll also have more time to see his daughter play college softball.

One thing for sure - he will be missed.