Thomas Goes From State Champion at Schaumburg to Division I Head Coach
MSL Connections to March Madness Surprises; Tory Dello Has Hockey Homecoming; Hersey Gymnast Nemcek Receives IHSA Honor
Ivan Thomas’ experiences with the highs of March Madness include one of the signature moments in Mid-Suburban League sports history.
Thomas was an assistant coach when Schaumburg won the 2001 Class AA boys basketball state championship. From there, Thomas has gone on to a decorated career at the high school and college levels on the Atlantic Coast.
Thomas will look to continue his success in his first Division I head coaching job at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Thomas, who is a native of Norfolk, was named the program’s 17th head coach on March 15 and was formally introduced as its new leader on March 20.
"I am honored and humbled to return home to the 757 as the head men's basketball coach at Hampton University," Thomas said in a release from the school after he was hired. "My journey in coaching has been defined by a relentless pursuit of excellence and a passion for developing young athletes both on and off the court.
“Hampton holds a special place in my heart, and I am committed to building a championship-caliber program that reflects the values of this esteemed institution. Together with our dedicated staff, talented student-athletes, and the unwavering support of the Hampton community, I am confident that we will achieve great success and leave a lasting legacy."
Thomas was the associate head coach this past year at Georgetown for Ed Cooley and spent the eight seasons prior to that on Cooley’s staff at Providence College. The Friars made five NCAA tournament appearances during Thomas’ tenure with Cooley.
"Ivan is one of the most dynamic, energetic leaders of men I know,” Cooley said in the statement. “He has the ability to connect, motivate, and teach the game of basketball and life. Ivan is a relationship person who thrives on opportunity. His ability to coach will inspire many recruits to want to play for him. I am very proud of his vision and persistence."
It started at Schaumburg on Bob Williams’ staff that included current head football coach Mark Stilling, current Benedictine University baseball coach Adam Smith, the late Kelly O’Connor and veteran assistants Tom Mueller and Mark Steger. The team led by Mark Pancratz, Scott Zoellick and Tony Young went 29-3 and stunned top-ranked Thornwood and 11-year NBA veteran Eddy Curry 66-54 in the Class AA championship game in Peoria.
The success continued for Thomas at three high schools in Virginia and included a state title and Virginia Coach of the Year honors in 2008. Now he will try to rebuild a program coming off a 9-24 season and 3-15 finish in its second season in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). The Pirates’ last winning season was 2018-19 (18-17) and they made six NCAA appearances as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions between 2001 and 2016.
"My tag line is we're going to be unbreakable," he said in a story by Marc Davis of WTKR-TV. "Unbreakable means you're going to be mentally tough to handle whatever goes on on the floor and off the floor, but we're going to be physically tough, too."
Local March Madness Upset Connection - Oakland
Stories like Oakland University upsetting Kentucky in the first round and nearly doing it again before falling in overtime to North Carolina State are what make March Madness so captivating.
One of the people caught up in the excitement of Oakland, located in Rochester, Michigan, was ex-Hersey star guard Brian Gregory. The leader of the Huskies’ 1985 Class AA Elite Eight team played his final three collegiate seasons for Oakland when the school was still at the Division II level and current head coach Greg Kampe was in the formative stages of his 40-year career at the school.
“I Love This Guy! Congrats to Coach Kampe and the team on an amazing game plan and execution,” Gregory said on Twitter/X after Oakland beat Kentucky. “I am so proud to say I played for Coach, taught a lot more than just basketball. So happy for my teammate Skip Townsend, your son (Trey) is something special!”
Gregory went to Navy after graduating from Hersey and played on the memorable 1985-86 team led by the legendary David “The Admiral” Robinson that advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Gregory saw action in the final minutes of a 71-50 loss to Duke and then transferred to Oakland where he was a three-time all-conference selection and an academic All-American as a senior.
Gregory still is listed atop all of Oakland’s assist records for a career (905), career average (10.8), season (374), season average (13.4) and single game (25). His 40 double-doubles are second in school history and he scored 1,223 career points before going on to a long college coaching career where he was in charge of the programs at Dayton, Georgia Tech and South Florida from 2003-23.
Gregory played for Don Rowley and George Zigman at Hersey and came back from a broken leg his junior year to lead the team to a sectional final. The next season he was the Daily Herald All-Area captain as the Huskies made the second of three Elite Eight trips on a team that included Bill Markham, Mike Boyan, Rick Hall, John Kelly, Mike Bischoff and future Elk Grove and Hersey head coach Steve Messer. They lost in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Mt. Carmel and future Purdue star and NBA player Melvin McCants.
Local March Madness Upset Connection - Duquesne
Former Daily Herald sports department colleague Tim Binder had a dual vested interest in Illinois’ second-round victory over Duquesne. Binder, who started for Hoffman Estates’ 1984 sectional finalist, graduated from Illinois and his late dad Fritz was part of Duquesne’s glory days in the 1950s as a player.
Fritz Binder, who was originally from Pittsburgh, was a three-year varsity player for Duquesne and was Duquesne’s second-leading scorer as a senior at 11.5 ppg in 1957-58. As a sophomore he averaged 5 points a game for a 17-10 NIT qualifier but did not play on the NIT champion a year earlier because freshmen weren’t eligible to play for the varsity at the time.
Binder’s Duquesne teammates included Sihugo Green, a two-time first-team All-American who had a nine-year NBA career, and Dave Ricketts, who had a six-year big-league baseball career as a catcher with St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Binder, who died on Dec. 26, 2019 at 83, also played baseball for Duquesne and in the minor leagues. He eventually moved to the Chicago area for his job with Kraft Foods.
Tim Binder was a three-year starter at Hoffman for the late Rick Gablenz. The 1983-84 team his senior year, led by Daily Herald All-Area pick Gary Ostopchik and honorable mention selection Tom Labno, went 23-6 to easily surpass the previous season best for victories of 14 and won the program’s first regional title. The Hawks wouldn’t win 20 games again until the 1995-96 Class AA Elite Eight qualifier went 27-4 for Bill Wandro.
Duquense ended a 47-year NCAA tournament drought with its appearance this year and won its first NCAA tourney game since 1969 with its first-round upset of BYU.
Dello Has Homecoming With Wolves
Crystal Lake Central grad Tory Dello is experiencing a homecoming in the American Hockey League this season with the Chicago Wolves. Through this weekend the defenseman who turned 27 on Valentine’s Day has played in 55 games with 3 goals and 10 assists. He scored his first goal at Allstate Arena on March 16 against Manitoba.
Dello spent the last two seasons with Laval of the AHL in Quebec with 9 goals and 22 assists. He played 19 games at Grand Rapids in 2020-21 and made his first AHL appearance with the Michigan team in an emergency situation in 2020 before the season was shut down because of COVID.
Dello, the son of former Barrington boys basketball coach Marty Dello, also played collegiately at Notre Dame before turning pro.
Hersey’s Nemcek Earns IHSA Honor
Standout Hersey junior gymnast Sabrina Nemcek was chosen as an IHSA Busey Bank Student-Athlete of the Month for February.
Nemcek led the Huskies to their second team state championship and first since 1984 as she won the all-around, uneven bars and vault titles. Nemcek also won the uneven bars state title as a sophomore.
“Sabrina is a true champion who wants success for her whole team, not just herself,” said Hersey coach Shannon Barrett on the IHSA website.
Nemcek was also recognized for being an honor roll student and a member of Hersey’s Service Over Self Club.
Diener Coaching Resignation Has (Brief) Conant Connection
Drew Diener recently resigned after nine seasons as the head coach of the Rockhurst University men’s basketball program in Kansas City. One of Diener’s assistants there and in a six-year stint at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee was his dad Dick, who was Conant’s head coach for one season in 1980-81.
Diener had won a small-school state title in Wisconsin and took the Conant job after the late Dick Redlinger retired. After an 0-24 finish, Diener left to take a college assistant coaching position and eventually had a successful return to high school coaching in Fond du Lac, where he had two state runner-up teams and was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Drew Diener was only 1 year old when his dad came to Conant and he played for his dad in high school before going to St. Louis University. In one of his college games he matched up against his brother Drake at DePaul. Drew Diener also had a stint as an assistant coach in basketball and golf and as an assistant athletic director at Northridge Prep in Niles.
Drew Diener went 121-129 at Rockhurst and was 168-43 with an NAIA Division II national title at Cardinal Stritch.
“It’s been an amazing experience coaching alongside my dad,” Diener said on the Rockhurst website after his resignation. “Those memories are extra-special.”
Proviso West Coaching Legend Lowell Lucas Passes Away
Lowell Lucas was part of a remarkable group of boys basketball coaching talent in the West Suburban Conference during his tenure at Proviso West from 1970-93. Lucas, who had a 432-177 record at the Hillside school, passed away March 6 at age 86.
Lucas was a 1991 inductee into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Other WSC head coaches from that era in the IBCA Hall of Fame include Glenn Whittenberg and Bill Hitt (Proviso East), Ron Nikcevich (Lyons Township), Dick Campbell (York), Norm Goodman (Leyden), Dick Flaiz (Downers Grove South), Al Allen (Oak Park-River Forest) and Jodie Harrison (Hinsdale Central).
Proviso West never had a winning season before Lucas arrived but had only two losing seasons during a tenure that included 8 regional and 6 WSC titles. His 1984-85 team went 25-0 in the regular season and was ranked nationally. Lucas also coached baseball and golf and was a well-respected physical education and driver’s education teacher.