Clancy Lands Dream Job as Western Illinois Assistant
Ex-Buffalo Grove Star went 52-13 in Two Seasons as Triton's Head Coach
John Clancy and his Triton College basketball players had the same dreams and goals.
To get to a Division I program.
That dream officially became a reality Wednesday for Clancy, a 2003 Buffalo Grove graduate and Daily Herald All-Area player, as he took a position at Western Illinois as a full-time assistant for new head coach Chad Boudreau. Clancy was 52-13 with a trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I semifinals in the first of his two seasons as head coach at Triton.
“Without the head coaching experience at Triton I probably don’t get the job at Western, with the success we had on the court and getting guys to D-I schools all over the place,” Clancy said Thursday night. “I was very honest with them (Triton players and recruits) and we’re all trying to move up and climb the ladder.”
The latest rung for Clancy is also tied to his 2019-20 season as a volunteer assistant at Triton and Boudreau’s third and final season as head coach at Highland Community College in Freeport. They got to know each other after their teams played and stayed in contact as Boudreau became the associate head coach for Rob Jeter at Western and Clancy spent a year at John A. Logan Community College in southern Illinois before returning to Triton.
The relationship grew as Boudreau was recruiting some of Clancy’s Triton players. And the D-I door opened for Clancy when Boudreau took over in mid-April following Jeter’s departure for Southern Utah.
Clancy also spent four years on Barry Hinson’s staff at Southern Illinois after coaching in the high school ranks at Wheeling, Elk Grove, St. Viator and Niles North.
“Chad and I talked back and forth and there are a lot of reasons for excitement with Western Illinois basketball right now,” Clancy said. “You can tell the community is into it right now. We became really close and it was going to take a really good situation for me to leave Triton.
“When I went down there (to Macomb) it reminded me of SIU with the community and the town. Watching games the last couple of years, people are pretty fired up. There are a lot of things to like and I’m going to work for a really good dude.”
The Leathernecks were 16-14 and 16-16 the last two seasons - after eight consecutive sub-.500 finishes - and they are moving from the Summit League to the Ohio Valley Conference. Clancy said there is a good mix of players, with returnees led by Quinlan Bennett, who played at Proviso East and Triton, and Jesiah West, who both averaged nearly 10 points a game, and additions through the transfer portal.
And Clancy will be out on the recruiting trail this weekend at the prestigious Riverside-Brookfield Shootout before heading to Macomb for the start of summer workouts Monday.
“In this business there are a lot of peaks and valleys and the road I’ve taken is an interesting one,” Clancy said. “It’s really hard in this business to get a full-time assistant’s job, but to have a guy I’ve known (Boudreau) from humble beginnings like I came from, that’s pretty cool.
“It’s a staff with some underdog dudes who can coach ball. I’m excited to get down there and get to it.”
So happy for John-he was close friends with my son back in high school. I hope the program takes off.