Fremd Grad Monaghan Makes Big Coaching Jump to Nebraska
Miller Connection to Palatine Standout Picking Illinois Football; Hersey Gym Coaching Legend Esposito Passes Away; Prospect's Rossi Part of Historic EIU Baseball Marathon
Pat Monaghan’s college basketball coaching career took a big turn this week.
The former Fremd and Harper College star’s move into the Big Ten as an assistant coach at Nebraska for Fred Hoiberg is also a bit of a return to his roots. Monaghan’s 19-year career started two hours north of Lincoln as a Wayne State College graduate assistant in 2006.
“I am extremely humbled and appreciative for the opportunity to join Coach Hoiberg and his outstanding staff,” Monaghan said in a release on the Nebraska athletics website. “The momentum coach and his staff have built over the last couple years is exciting, along with the loyal and passionate fan base that is one of the best in the country. I am looking forward to developing relationships on campus and in the community. I can’t wait to get to Lincoln and get to work.”
Monaghan comes to Nebraska, which just won the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament, after one-year stints at Wyoming and Green Bay under Sundance Wicks. Monaghan also coached at Southern Illinois and Milwaukee, was the director of basketball operations at Loyola, an assistant at Division II power Minnesota State and spent two years at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.
Monaghan was chosen to attend the Top Connect Basketball Symposium in Las Vegas, Nev., in 2024 and the Jay Bilas Coaches Leadership Program in 2022. The programs help identify and develop assistant coaches with the potential to become Division I head coaches.
“Pat is a well-rounded coach who is an excellent teacher, strong in skill development and a relentless recruiter,” Hoiberg said. “In talking with other coaches who have worked with Pat over the years, the things they bring up are his work ethic and his ability to connect with players. He’s been a part of building successful programs at different levels and has experience in the Midwest at both the Division I and junior college levels. I am excited to have him join the Husker basketball coaching staff.”
Monaghan and younger brothers Matt and Zach were All-Area standouts at Fremd. Pat Monaghan was an All-Area pick in Mo Tharp’s final season as head coach in 2002 and set an Mid-Suburban League record with 10 3-pointers in a game against Waubonsie Valley. According to the IHSA record book no one in the MSL has broken the record.
Monaghan played for two seasons at Harper and was a NJCAA third-team All-American as a sophomore. He finished his college career at Lewis University in Romeoville and led the team in scoring as a senior at 14 points a game.
Miller Connection for Palatine Football Standout Headed to U of I
Palatine junior football and basketball standout Tony Balanganayi decided to stay in-state and play at Illinois when he announced his verbal commitment this week. There was also a solid family connection between the two schools with the 6-foot-4, 260-pound two-way lineman.
Palatine basketball assistant coach Luke Miller’s older brother Bart is in his fifth season as the offensive line coach for Bret Bielema at Illinois. The Miller brothers were Daily Herald All-Area standouts at Elk Grove - Bart in football in 2002 and Luke in basketball in 2006.
Hersey State Champion Gym Coach Esposito Passes Away
Hall of Fame gymnastics coach Bob Esposito, who was part of Hersey’s boys state championship teams in 1974 and 1984, passed away on December 26, 2024 at 78. The news was first reported by Dion Martorano of the Des Plaines Journal & Topics.
Esposito was the head coach when Hersey won its second title and assisted Don Von Ebers in its first title. He was a standout gymnast at West Leyden and Northern Illinois University before going into teaching and coaching and was inducted into the Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association (IHSGCA) Hall of Fame in 1994.
Esposito also owned two pizzerias in Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg. The Hazelton, Pennsylvania native was survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia, their children Robert, Lia and Nicholas and five grandchildren. The visitation and funeral were held January 3-4.
Eastern’s Rossi Delivers in OVC Baseball Marathon
Prospect alum Ethan Rossi helped make sure the longest baseball game in Ohio Valley Conference history ended happily for Eastern Illinois on April 11.
The Panthers and Southeast Missouri (SEMO) were in the top of the 19th inning in Cape Girardeau when Rossi delivered a two-out, tiebreaking RBI single. A pair of insurance runs gave the visitors from Charleston a 6-3 victory as Rossi went 3-for-6 in the game that lasted 5 hours and 10 minutes.
The two longest games in the OVC, which started playing baseball in 1949, were 17 innings by Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay in 2002 and Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State in 2014.
Rossi is in his first year at Eastern as a starting outfielder and had a slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) of .265/.385/.469 with 5 homers and 21 RBI. The Panthers are 19-17 overall and 9-5 in the OVC and a half-game behind co-leaders SEMO and Southern Illinois Edwardsville.
Last season Rossi slashed .357/.500/.531 with 19 doubles, 5 HR and 65 RBI at Northern Oklahoma (Community) College-Tonkawa and last summer slashed .327/.472/.514 with 5 HR and 26 RBI at Kokomo (Ind.) in the Northwoods League. Rossi has two years of eligibility left after this season.
Schmack Going to the Dogs
Kyle Schmack will be trying to follow the path of his dad Brian, who graduated from Rolling Meadows and pitched with the Detroit Tigers in 2003, with the Chicago Dogs of the Frontier League this summer.
Kyle Schmack is a hard-hitting outfielder who played for his dad and now is part of his coaching staff at Valparaiso University. In four-plus seasons with the Beacons (including COVID-shortened 2020), he slashed .281/.382/.477 with 35 HR and 131 RBI. As a senior in 2024 it was .275/.376/.555 with 17 HR and 38 RBI.
Brian Schmack was undrafted out of Northern Illinois and started his professional career pitching for Newark in the Frontier League in 1995. He signed with the White Sox to start a 9-year career in affiliated ball and with the 2003 Tigers he went 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in 11 games.
The Dogs also signed shortstop Henry Kusiak, a Grant product who slashed .277/.345/.376 with 3 HR and 38 RBI in 77 games for Windy City in the Frontier League in 2024. The Dogs open their season May 9 at Impact Field in Rosemont against the Lake County DockHounds out of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
Wolanski Joining Osei at Evanston
While Tony Wolanski has been firmly entrenched as Rolling Meadows’ softball coach since 2024, he could fill a closet with apparel from the various stops as an assistant football coach.
“A lot of family members and Goodwill have it,” Wolanski joked in a Twitter/X exchange.
That’s also where Wolanski announced on Friday, “Next year starts year 34 for me in football. I’m proud to say I will be the DC (defensive coordinator) at Evanston High School for my good friend Coach (Miles) Osei.”
Wolanski was the offensive coordinator at Grayslake Central last fall for Brent Pearlman, who was head coach when Osei was his star quarterback in 2008-09. He was also an instrumental part of Meadows’ turnaround that started in the late 1990s as an assistant to Doug Millsaps.
Wolanski was part of Osei’s staff when Elk Grove went 7-3 and made the Class 7A playoffs in 2022. Osei left after six years to take the job at Kankakee, where he went 21-3 in two seasons before taking the Evanston job in late January. The Wildkits are coming off consecutive 3-6 finishes.
Softball Not Grams’ Only Coaching Success
It was great to see long-time friend Ken Grams reach the summit of IHSA softball coaching success when he got win No. 1,045 to pass Randy Wolken of St. Joseph-Ogden for most career victories in the sport. And it’s not the only sport where Grams ranks among the best.
The Arlington graduate was also among the top boys basketball coaches in MSL and Elk Grove history with a 125-92 record from 1977-84. Grams’ win total ranks second in school history behind Steve Messer (140-123 from 1998-2007) and his .576 winning percentage is 13th among MSL coaches with at least 100 victories.
Grams’ basketball teams won four regional titles, reached two sectional championship games and won two MSL South titles. The 1978-79 team went 23-6 and still holds the school record for wins in a season and the 1981-82 team led by future big-league pitcher Dave Otto went 20-8 and won a regional.
Hecklinski Passing Tradition Continues
The Hecklinski name is familiar in MSL football as brothers Randy and Jeff were record-setting All-Area quarterbacks during Joe Petricca’s tremendous run as head coach from 1984-96. Turns out another Hecklinski can sling it around, too.
Longtime friend and Daily Herald sportswriter Larry Weindruch mentioned that Jeremy Hecklinski, the son of Randy and nephew of Jeff, is being courted by Iowa, according to various on-line reports. Jeremy took 3 snaps in a game last season against North Carolina as a true freshman, but redshirted and entered the transfer portal after the retirement of head coach Dave Clawson.
Jeremy put up big-time numbers and a 32-8 record in three seasons as a starter at Walton High School in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta. He threw for 3,835 yards with 50 touchdowns and 6 interceptions to lead his team to the state title game in 2023 and was Georgia’s offensive player of the year. His career numbers were 9,136 yards with 102 TDs and 23 INTs.
Randy Hecklinski led Palatine to the Class 6A state semifinals as the 1989 All-Area captain and broke the MSL record for career passing in two seasons with 4,050 yards and 39 TDs. He also played two varsity seasons in Richmond (Ind.) to account for more than 6,000 career yards and was a two-time letterman at Bowling Green.
Randy played part of his senior year with a broken wrist on his throwing hand and when he injured his shoulder in the semifinal loss to Thornton, he was replaced by his freshman brother Jeff. The younger Hecklinski would lead the Pirates to three more of their 12 consecutive playoff trips and when he graduated he held state career records for passing yards (5,870) and completions (418), was second in attempts (724) and fourth in touchdowns (52).
Jeff Hecklinski played at Illinois and Western Illinois and his 20 years as a Division I assistant coach included stops at Illinois and Michigan. He is the President and Director of Signing Day Sports, which helps high school athletes with the recruiting process.
Bruno Connection to Wheeling Legend
Recently retired DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno left an indelible mark on girls and women’s basketball locally and nationally. His career included a stint as the first coach of the Chicago Hustle in the Women’s Professional Basketball League and a connection to legendary Wheeling athlete Sandy Rainey.
Rainey starred in basketball, volleyball, track and field and tennis before graduating from Wheeling in 1978. She originally intended to play at Lewis but the 19-year-old instead decided to take a shot at playing professionally with the Hustle in its inaugural 1978-79 season under Bruno.
Rainey played 4 minutes and was 2-for-3 on free throws with 4 rebounds in her pro debut when the Hustle won its home opener before 2,192 at DePaul’s old Alumni Hall. She averaged 3.7 minutes and 1.6 points in 19 games but a back injury would force her retirement.
Rainey-Ernst was inducted into the Wheeling’s Wildcats Athletics Hall of Fame in the Class of 2010. She passed away in 2018 at 59.
In Case You Missed It
Last week we shared “MSL History: We Are the IHSA Team Champions” with information about all the IHSA title teams in league history.
You can also find recent additions of state tourney histories on girls badminton, bowling and gymnastics, boys wrestling and tennis and updated info on the MSL’s Major League Baseball player/manager history at the Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond website.