New WWS Hoops Coach Szorc Gets Down to Business

The month of June, and the first couple weeks in July, is a hectic period for most high school basketball coaches. And that’s certainly been the case for new Wheaton Warrenville South boys basketball coach during his first summer with the team.

Szorc and the Tigers competed in the 16-team Hinsdale South summer league as well as in other tourneys like the Minuteman Classic, held earlier this month at Riverside-Brookfield High School.

Then there are the summer camps …

How’s this for a schedule?

Szorc’s varsity players held their camp Monday through Thursday for three weeks in June starting at 6:30 a.m. There also were separate three-week camps for fourth- through sixth-graders and seventh- through eighth-graders. Plus, Szorc held a week-long Little Tigers camp for first- through third-graders.

“It’s important,” said Szorc, referring to the camps. “It’s part of building the program.”

Building the program not only entails building for the future, but getting things in place now. Summers are especially challenging for new coaches, who not only have to install their offensive and defensive systems, but also develop relationships with their new players and evaluate their talents.

“Much of this summer we spent finding out what we could do,” Szorc said. “Before you can start putting the pieces together, you’ve got to know who you are. Implementation-wise, it wasn’t as heavy as probably some other camps, but we definitely got better.”

It’s always a challenge, as well, for any prep team to have its key players available for summer league games and tourneys due to various conflicts (sports and non-sports related) that come up throughout June and July. The Tigers were no exception.

The Tigers did win one of their final games at the Minuteman Classic by a 61-48 score.

“Probably once or twice we had our core group together,” Szorc said. “I’ll never judge the summer by wins and losses. I’ll judge the summer by how the kids improve. We’ve had some vast improvement with individuals this summer.”

Szorc, a West Chicago native and Benet Academy grad, was named head coach in April. He takes over for Mike Healy, who stepped down after the 2010-11 season and remains the school’s athletic director.

Szorc enjoyed a successful two-year stint as head basketball coach at Rock Island Alleman, where he led the Pioneers to consecutive Class 2A regional titles. Last year under Szorc, the Pioneers posted their first winning season since 2004-05.

One particular aspect of coaching basketball at WWS that won’t be new to Szorc is how the success of the football team affects the basketball team early in the season. Rock Island Alleman, like WWS, is a perennial football power, so Szorc knows what it’s like to start the season without some key players who happen to be playing postseason football.

And Szorc knows how to work those players into the lineup once football season has concluded.

“They (Alleman) were in the state (Class 4A) championship game last year,” Szorc said. “Your athletes are your athletes. Sometimes it may take a little longer to get into the swing of things and get into basketball shape. You struggle early getting your legs underneath you, but the goal is to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year.”

The Tigers have been successful at hitting their stride by playoff time the past few years. Last year, WWS had to wait until after Thanksgiving weekend (when Tigers won the Class 7A state football championship) to get key players such as Reilly O’Toole, Jason Schuman and Travis Kern back onto the hardwood. Once they returned and got their games going, the Tigers went on a roll, winning 10 of their last 11 matchups and reaching the .

Graduation took its toll on the Tigers, who’ve lost their entire starting lineup from 2010-11—O’Toole, Schuman, Kern, Kevin Bridges and Nate Fuster.

When asked what WWS basketball fans can expect from a Bob Szorc-coached team, he replied: “There will be a lot of passion, a lot of energy. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to get the youth involved. The goal at the end of the day is that the kids play the right way, act the right way and have a good experience.”

The 2011-12 Tigers will be a defensive-oriented club, according to Szorc.

“A lot of our focus is going to be on the defensive end of the floor,” he said. “I say that now and we might give up 60 (points in a game), but that’s where our focus will be. But I always say about high school basketball: Some of it’s Xs and Os, but it’s more about the relationships, making sure they have a good experience.

“Defensively we’ve stayed man-to-man this summer and tried to get some principles in, but we’ve got a ways to go there in terms of installing our principles and installing our program. We will (be man-to-man), but you’ve also got to play to your talents.

“We’re really long, and with some of our lineups, we may have to play some zone this year.”

As far as his offensive philosophy, Szorc said WWS will run plenty of motion.

“But at the same time,” he adds, “we’ve got to make sure the right guys get the right shot at the right spot.”

In addition to his coaching duties, Szorc will be a full-time math teacher at WWS when school resumes next month.