Massey Basketball: Streaks’ new coaches: A Whiz Kid, Thiel and … Jerry Leggett?

 

Replacing the ‘Legend’

Gerald Phillips became the coach of the Streaks in 1929. Between the start of GHS basketball in 1903 and Phillips in 1929, there had been 17 coaches. In part, that was due to fact that the first seven coaches were GHS students who only coached one year.Phillips was the longest tenured boys basketball coach in GHS history, coaching 21 season. In his 21 seasons, he became a Galesburg legend. The Streaks won 332 games, 67% of their games, 16 Regional Championships, 7 trips to State, and one 2nd place finish.

As we know, it is always tough to be the “man to follow the man.” Probably no hire in GHS history brought more glitz and must certainly have “won the press conference,” that the hire of Ken Menke. If the administration wanted to hire a name, they sure did it with Ken Menke.

Menke played high school basketball for Dundee HS, and had led them to a State Championship. He went onto play at the University of Illinois, and one of the fabled “Whiz Kids.” While at Illinois, he was first team All-Big Ten twice as the Illini won two Big Ten titles. As if that was not enough to impress, Menke had gone onto play in the NBA during its infancy with the Ft. Wayne Pistons and the Waterloo Hawks.Unfortunately, Menke did not have a lot of luck following a legend. In four seasons, Menke’s squads had only one winning season, going 14-13 in 1953, and for the four years, his teams went 37-56 for a 40% win percentage. After Menke left Galesburg, he stayed in basketball by working as an official.

Next up was Frank Adams, who took the Streaks to the Elite 8 with underclassmen, Russ Lind, Mike Owens, and Bill Granning. After one year, Adams left to coach the Knox Siwash.Next up to replace the “legend” was a young guy by the name of John Thiel. He had been a multi-sport star at Carthage College. He also went onto play in the NBA with the Milwaukee Hawks. Thiel had served one year as Adams assistant coach. When Adams left, Thiel took over as the head coach of the Streaks.

Eighteen years later, Galesburg was still talking about replacing the “legend,” but now the legend was John Thiel. His teams won 82% of their games and a total of 396 games. The Streaks under Thiel 12 times won 20 games, 16 times won Regional Championships, 9 times won Sectional Championships, and 8 times went to State, including 1959 (Third), 1966 (Second), and 1968 (Second).

Replacing the ‘Legend’, again

John Thiel retired with one of the most impressive records of any coach in Illinois basketball history. By 1973, Galesburg was clearly a “basketball town,” and town that had very high expectations.

Since John Thiel resigned in 1973, the Streaks have been 11 head coaches. This Spring, the new coach will be the 12th head coach. With each new hire, there is an excitement, an anticipation, and a hope of great things to come.

Tough road

There were factors that made it tough for some of the coaches who following Coach Thiel. The Streaks joined the WB6 Conference in 1969, and for most of the time were the 5th largest school, and GHS’s enrollment has continued to shrink. The IHSA changed from 1-class to 2-class and then 4-class basketball. Girls basketball was added but not until the 1990’s did Galesburg build a second gym.

Streaks background required?

Of the 11 coaches to coach since Thiel left, 4 had played for the Silver Streaks. Mike Owens, Barry Swanson, and Dave Peck had all played for Coach Thiel. Chad Thompson had played for Mike Reynolds.Six of the coaches had been assistants at GHS before becoming the head coach. Mike Owens (John Thiel), Barry Swanson (Mike Owens, Gordie Kinkead), Dave Peck (Gordie Kinkead, Barry Swanson, Ed Sennett), Jeff Houston (Geoff Falk), Ryan Hart (Mike Reynolds), and Chad Thompson (Mike Reynolds) were all assistant coaches at GHS before becoming the head coach.

Head coaching experience required?

There were 11 coaches since Thiel retired, but there were 12 hires made. Barry Swanson coached from 1979-84 and again 1989-96.

In the 12 hires, 7 had already been a head coach before they came to Galesburg. Mike Owens (Limestone, Wheeling), Gordie Kinkead (Riverdale), Ed Sennett (Herscher), Barry Swanson (2nd time- Galesburg, Carl Sandburg), Mike Miller (Rockford Guilford), Jeff Houston (Yorkwood), and Mike Reynolds (Bismarck-Henning) all had been head coaches before hired.

Resumes that won the press conference

Mike Owens

Owens had played for John Thiel on great Streaks teams. Owens then played for Bradley when they were ranked as high as #2 in the nation and won the NIT. Coach Owens had success as head coach at Limestone and Wheeling before becoming an assistant at Northwestern. At GHS, his teams won 63% of their games and made the Elite 8 in 1976.

Gordie Kinkead

Kinkead had a highly successful career at Port Byron Riverdale. His last two years at Riverdale, they went 52-6, winning the Sectional both years and going to State once. He coached two years at GHS, winning 40% of games.

Ed Sennett

Sennett came from Herscher where in five years his teams had won 3 Regionals and finished third in State. He coached two years at GHS, winning 25% of the games.

Barry Swanson

The first time Swanson was hired, he had been sophomore coach at GHS for five years with great success, including an undefeated soph team in 1975. Barry had also been a star of the Streaks ‘66 second in State team. The second time he was hired, he had finished a highly successful time at Sandburg College including a trip to Nationals. In his 12, his teams won 63% of their games.

Mike Miller

Miller came to Galesburg from Rockford Guilford. Coach Miller had been at Guilford 5 years and had taken 2nd in State in 1993.

Mike Reynolds

Many had been concerned about hiring Class A coaches. Reynolds took care of that because he had been an assistant at both UTHS and Danville. Then Coach Reynolds had been head coach at Bismarck-Henning. In his five years at BH, they went 118-38 with two Regional Championships. His last three years, they had gone 79-15.

He got away?

It is hard to predict whether a coach will be successful or not successful, especially a young coach just starting their career. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Luke Yaklich applied for the Streaks job at one time. He was a young coach at Sterling at the time. The story is told that during his interview process, one of the committee members was unable to be present. So the committee had one member on speaker phone. Because of tech problems, the phone became disconnected. Yaklich was asked to repeat answers to catch everyone up. Yaklich withdrew a couple days later.

Within ten years, Yaklich became a college assistant. First he was at Illinois State, then Michigan and finally at Texas. He was considered one of the top defensive minds in college basketball. He eventually became the head coach at UI-C.

Rumors

On the average, the Streaks boys basketball job has opened up every 4 1/2 years. For Streaks fans, guessing who was interviewing and who would be the next coach became a regular past-time. Usually the rumors were based on hopes and not on any facts.In 1989, Jay Redfern not only landed on a rumor. The rumor was that Jerry Leggett was interested in leaving Quincy and coming to Galesburg as the basketball coach.

Leggett had a successful 19 year run as a head coach by 1989. He had been at Rich Central (4 years), Rock Island (2 years), and Quincy (in his 13th year). He was considered by many to be the best coach in Illinois in the 1980’s. While at Quincy, his teams went 305-70 and finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st in State. His 1981 team was considered the National Champs with Bruce Douglas and Michael Payne.

Leggett’s longtime assistant at Quincy, Mike Hellenthal had come to Galesburg in 1988 as the Athletic Director. Leggett went on record saying that working for Hellenthal was very appealing to him.

Leggett let it be known to some, including the Quincy Herald-Whig that he was interested in the Streaks basketball job. We’ll never know whether it was a move to get something from Quincy, or if he was serious. It should be noted that Leggett did only coach one more year after this.Jay Redfern did the following story on the Leggett to Galesburg rumor. The following is his story: