Thanksgiving Leftovers Include Two MSL Boys Basketball Coaching Debuts
Widlowski Starts at Hersey, Brown at Fremd; Assistants "Dressed for Success"; Major Awards to Prospect's O'Grady, Former Fremd Star Kolze
One of the great things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers. We’ve got some here that include the coaching debuts of old friends Bob Widlowski at Hersey and Mike Brown at Fremd.
Widlowski’s Triumphant Debut Part II
Bob Widlowski smiled and said he’s not returning the retirement gifts. After all, technically, he is retired from teaching at Fremd.
Widlowski’s coach at Palatine, Ed Molitor, humorously suggested breaking out an orange blazer at some point in his new job as Hersey’s boys basketball coach.
“No,” Widlowski emphatically said with a grin when asked about it after his debut with the Huskies on Monday in the 15th annual Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic.
There were plenty of reasons for Widlowski to smile after a 65-43 victory over Huntley.
“They’ve worked very hard the last two weeks so I feel good for them,” Widlowski said in what was also his return to his alma mater. “It’s a good tourney and that’s a good team. There’s no feeling-out period. You’ve got to play and I thought we played tonight. It also showed we could do some things moving forward. We’ve got a whole lot to focus on to continue to improve.”
Widlowski moved a step closer to joining Mo Tharp, his predecessor at Fremd, and Conant’s Tom McCormack as head coaches with 400 wins at a Mid-Suburban League school or schools after Hersey beat Lake Park on Tuesday. He is also the eighth person to be a head boys basketball coach at multiple MSL schools after his successful 22-year run at Fremd that included two undefeated regular seasons and a fourth-place finish in Class 4A in 2017.
And he likes what he’s seen at his new spot in Arlington Heights.
“Their energy level is good and they’re basketball players,” Widlowski said. “They like each other and love to play basketball. They bring strong energy to practice every day. They’ve been playing together a long time and they’re tight.”
Widlowski is the third head coach in three varsity seasons for 6-foot-7 senior Jackson Hupp. He mentioned that in some cases another change could have been met with resistance but said that’s not the case in this instance.
“We took it to heart and love our coaches,” Hupp said of embracing Widlowski and new varsity assistant Luke Yanule. “They’ve brought great energy and it’s great being back with this group because we love each other like a family.
“There are different aspects to each coach we’ve had in the past (Austin Scott and David Hess). They’re great coaches and adults to look up to.
“It’s a different style of play with coach Widlowski. We have to make sure we run our offense all the way through and make sure we’re physical in all aspects of the game defensively and offensively.”
Junior Charlie Pomis helped make Widlowski’s Hersey debut a success with 8 of his game-high 24 points in the game’s first 5:37. He went 5-for-6 behind the arc but also showed his ability to find his teammates with 3 assists.
“It feels great to get to start like this for our new coach,” Pomis said. “We’re excited having him in here and really looking forward to this year. We trust his offense and trust his defense. Then we have to go out and perform.”
Widlowski said one of the best things he’s done in his new job is add Yanule as his assistant. Yanule played for Hall of Famer Denny Zelasko on Notre Dame’s 1997 Class AA Elite Eight team, was an assistant at Schaumburg for Bob Williams and spent 10 years as head coach at Hoffman Estates from 2011-21, where one of his assistants was retired Maine West head coach Jim Sullivan.
Yanule left coaching after the 2021 season to help care for his ailing father Robert, who passed away July 13 at 87. Hupp talked about Widlowski and Yanule bringing up how competitive they were in their MSL West battles at Fremd and Hoffman and how it’s rubbed off in a positive way for Hersey.
“They have the same mindset,” Hupp said. “They want to win and get these kids better.”
BOYS BASKETBALL HEAD COACHES AT MULTIPLE MSL SCHOOLS
Bob Widlowski (Fremd 2002-24; Hersey 2024-)
Matt Walsh (Schaumburg 2009-14; Conant 2021-24)
Steve Messer (Elk Grove 1998-2007; Hersey 2007-18)
Glen Elms (Forest View 1977-86; Prospect 1986-2000)
George Zigman (Arlington 1968-75, 1976-84; Hersey 1984-90)
Bill Slayton (Arlington 1967-68; Prospect 1969-80)
Ted Wissen (Arlington 1963-67; Forest View 1971-77)
Ken Arneson (Forest View 1962-71; Rolling Meadows 1971-75)
Finding Out What Brown Can Do for Fremd
Mike Brown could have sat back and relaxed as his first varsity head coaching victory at Fremd was imminent with a comfortable 24-point lead and about 5½ minutes to play Tuesday night in the 36th annual Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament at Fenton.
But a 3-pointer by Willowbrook followed by a downcourt pass against full-court pressure that was fumbled out of bounds led Brown to call a timeout. After all, details matter when you’ve been around coaches like Bob Williams at Schaumburg and Brian Hammel at Northern Illinois as a player and Bill Wandro at Hoffman and Bob Widlowski at Fremd as an assistant coach.
And that was clear afterward as Fremd won Brown’s debut 70-52. Because there will be plenty of times down the road of much tighter late-game situations.
“We had a really good second quarter (25-8) but let our foot off the gas a little bit in the second half,” Brown said. “Willowbrook played hard and scrappy and made it tough on us. It’s a good win and we had good team energy. We played hard but we need to clean up a few things.”
It was understood by two of Fremd’s returning starters in junior Jordan Williams and senior Samuel Hirsch.
“Obviously it wasn’t our best but we definitely showed flashes of potential,” Williams said after a double-double of 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 13 rebounds.
“We started strong,” said Hirsch, who fueled that with 18 of his 20 points and three 3-pointers in the first half. “We know what we have to fix and what we did well. We had good energy to start the game.”
Brown was a four-year varsity starter at Schaumburg and helped kickstart the program’s success as a freshman in 1994 when he hit two big shots in a memorable overtime upset of state-ranked and Elite Eight-bound Conant. He was aptly nicknamed “Downtown” Mike Brown by legendary Northern Illinois sports information director Mike Korcek as he averaged 10 points a game and hit 187 3s in his career.
And then it was on to his apprenticeships with Wandro and Widlowski before becoming the latest MSL alum-head coach along with Conant’s Greg Grana, who played at Palatine. Brown spent the last 12 years as a varsity assistant and sophomore coach with Widlowski.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Brown said. “It’s a good school, good community and good players. It’s been fun to have our own preseason and try to do things our way.”
It’s not a major overhaul either side with their familiarity, but Williams and Hirsch said Brown has made some tweaks offensively.
“There are definitely certain differences,” Hirsch said. “Defensively it’s pretty much the same. Always talking, making sure the help is there and rebounding.”
The latter worked out well for Fremd after it gave up some early offensive boards but finished with a commanding 45-23 overall advantage. The Vikings improved to 2-0 with a blowout win over Chicago Latin to set up Friday’s 5:30 p.m. matchup with Evanston. The winner will play for the title - likely against two-time defending champion Rolling Meadows and Marquette-bound Ian Militec - at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“It felt amazing and we’re glad to get the first one for (coach Brown),” Williams said. Obviously we have more work to do if we’re going to have a great season. He’s very passionate and it rubs off on us and gets us going.”
The NIU Huskie influence isn’t limited to Brown on the Fremd bench, either. Longtime assistant Jason Hogrefe also played football in DeKalb.
Brown is one of three coaches with ties to Schaumburg and Williams who have stepped into prominent roles this year. James Han, who was a point guard on the 2001 state championship team, is leading the girls program after the passing of head coach Dave Yates to brain cancer in June. Han’s team won the Hampshire Thanksgiving tournament.
Ivan Thomas, who was an assistant on the state title team, is in his first year as a Division I head coach at Hampton University in Virginia. Thomas was a successful high school head coach and D-I assistant before taking over at Hampton, which is off to a 3-5 start.
MSL BOYS BASKETBALL HEAD COACHES/ALUMS
NOTE: School(s) coached followed by school attended in parentheses
Mike Brown (Fremd - Schaumburg)
Keith Peterson (Buffalo Grove - Palatine)
Ryan O’Connor (Buffalo Grove - Rolling Meadows)
David Hess (Hersey - Hersey)
Steve Messer (Elk Grove/Hersey - Hersey)
Eric Millstone (Palatine - Buffalo Grove)
John Clancy (Wheeling - Buffalo Grove)
Matt Walsh (Schaumburg/Conant - Conant)
Anthony Furman (Elk Grove - Palatine)
Peter McBride (Hoffman Estates - Prospect)
John Camardella (Prospect - Hersey)
Dominic Cannon (Prospect - Fremd)
Ron Ashley (Prospect - Arlington)
Kevin Katovich (Rolling Meadows - Conant)
Marty Manning (Schaumburg - Hoffman Estates)
Bob Widlowski (Fremd/Hersey - Palatine)
Greg Grana (Conant - Palatine)
Ken Grams (Elk Grove - Arlington)
Dressed for Success
There once was an old adage that the assistants couldn’t outdress the boss on a basketball sideline. Of course the rules have changed significantly in that area as business-type suits are no longer in vogue at any level of the sport in favor of workout gear.
Yes, we know it doesn’t matter one bit toward how a coach does his or her job. But there’s still something about being dressed for success that some of us miss from basketball head coaches.
Not only was it great to see Luke Yanule back on the sideline as an assistant at Hersey but the orange tie and dress shirt was a nice touch. He laughed that it is a similar look to the dress shirt and tie look of Barrington’s Bryan Tucker.
And it’s always great to see longtime Stevenson assistant Paul Swan, who joked that he gets his share of grief for his green sweater vest. Hey, it’s even better to see that combination with a dress shirt, tie and crisp pair of slacks.
Thanksgiving Tournament Tests
Huntley second-year coach Collin Kalamatas brought his team to the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic for the first time. Starting off with losses to Hersey and Stevenson and then facing another strong program in Lake Park on Friday was the experience he was looking for with a team that doesn’t have much of it returning.
“It was a new experience for a lot of us and ultimately I like how the kids approached the second half in general,” Kalamatas said after a 65-43 loss to Hersey in the opener. “For a young team in terms of experience it was good for us to get some confidence. We showed flashes.
“Our (Fox Valley) conference is a very competitive league, but it’s not the same as what we’ll find in a tournament like this with the physicality and strength of some of these teams.”
Willowbrook didn’t have an easy start at Fenton as it opened with Fremd and Evanston.
“it’s a good test for us to start off the year with two tough opponents,” said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. “It will challenge us right away.”
Prospect’s O’Grady Earns IHSBCA’s Les Miller Award
Congrats to longtime Prospect assistant baseball coach Phil O’Grady on winning the Les Miller Man of the Year Award from the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association. The award was first given out by the IHSBCA in 1976 and was renamed four years later after Miller, who was the head baseball coach at UIC from 1949-79.
“This award is so fitting for one of the most loyal, passionate and generous people we know,” said Prospect head coach Ross Giusti on the baseball program’s Twitter/X page. “Our program has been fortunate to have had coach O’Grady for all these years.”
O’Grady joins area winners of the Les Miller Award such as area high school coaches Larry Pohlman of Prospect (1987), Buffalo Grove’s John Wendell (1990), Wheeling’s Ron DeBolt (1991), Hersey’s Harvey Foster (1998) and St. Viator’s Bill “Chico” Pirman (2019). Pete Caliendo, who has coached internationally and was a coach and director of baseball operations for the Schaumburg Flyers, won it in 2010.
O’Grady played at Rolling Meadows and with his younger brother Brian and future big leaguers Josh Paul and Brian Schmack was on Arlington’s 1992 team that finished second in the American Legion World Series. O’Grady also played at Harper College and coached the Mount Prospect American Legion team.
Mike Kolze to Receive IBCA’s Chuck Rolinski Award
Mike Kolze has been a prominent figure in area and state basketball for 50-plus years dating to his days as a star guard at Fremd. He is receiving the 2025 Chuck Rolinski Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA), according to a Twitter/X post.
Kolze served the IBCA as executive director and past president and was the all-state team chair for 15 years. The 2016 IBCA Hall of Fame inductee won 193 games as a head coach at Highland Park with 4 conference and 2 regional titles, was an assistant coach at West Leyden and a graduate assistant at Illinois State.
Kolze also made the 1970 Paddock Publications all-area team for Fremd after he finished second in MSL scoring at 19.3 ppg and averaged 5 assists a game. His son Mike was a star guard at Lake Zurich and is currently an assistant in the boys program there.
The Derril Kipp Courage Award, which honors the late Maine West girls coach, went to Kevin and Jodi Brown of Washington in central Illinois. Kevin Brown won 400-plus games at Bloomington Central Catholic and Washington before he lost his battle with brain cancer in 2019. Washington’s Thanksgiving tournament was renamed the Kevin Brown Tournament of Champions and raises awareness and funds for Gliobalstoma research.
The Rich and Ron Herrin Award will go to Jack Fitzgerald, a fixture in high school and college coaching in the south suburbs and 12-year scout for the Miami Heat. Fitzgerald coached Dwyane Wade at Richards High School in Oak Lawn.
The 2025 IBCA Hall of Fame Class should be announced in December.
St. Viator Grads Hooping it Up
St. Viator has four boys basketball alums who are coaching basketball at higher levels according to its boys basketball Twitter/X page:
Mike Howland is in his first year as associate head coach at Charleston Southern University after five years as an assistant at William & Mary and Division I stints at Winthrop and MIssouri State. Howland was an all-area standout point guard on Viator’s 1997 East Suburban Catholic Conference co-champions and went 69-19 in three seasons as head coach.
Rich McLoughlin is in his third year as strength and conditioning coach for the College Park Skyhawks, the G-League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks. McLoughlin, who led Viator to a 3A supersectional in 2011, also had strength and conditioning positions for the men’s and women’s programs at Georgia Southern, Dayton and Stanford.
Ricky Muench is in his fifth year with Loyola Marymount University and his second as an assistant coach. He also spent a year as the Milwaukee Bucks video and player development assistant and was Marquette’s student manager from 2015-19.
Garrett Hill is in his second year as an assistant coach at Roosevelt University. Hill also spent two years as a graduate assistant.
Dave Yates Chicagoland Showcase
The Dave Yates Chicagoland Showcase on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Fremd will feature 11 games with some of the top girls basketball teams. It also honors the legacy of Yates, the Fremd coach who sparked the event’s growth and passed away in June after a battle with brain cancer.
Games in Fremd’s main gym: Downers Grove North vs. Nazareth (11:15 a.m.), Fremd vs. Homewood-Flossmoor (1 p.m.), Butler Prep vs. Batavia (2:45 p.m.), Benet vs. Lake Zurich (4:15 p.m.), Maine South vs. Lyons (6 p.m.), Waubonsie Valley vs. Libertyville, 7:30 p.m.).
Games in Fremd’s south gym: Rolling Meadows vs. Glenbard West (11:30 a.m.), Neuqua Valley vs. Prospect (1:15 p.m.), Hersey vs. Geneva (3 p.m.), Mother McAuley vs. Huntley (4:30 p.m.), Evanston vs. Grayslake Central (6:15 p.m.).
Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving
I hope you and your families and friends had a happy Thanksgiving. And thank you to everyone who has been supporting and following Mid Suburban Legends and Beyond the last two-plus years - whether it be through a paid contribution or subscription - to keep up with a lot of the great stories of the past and present in high school sports!