This season, Fremd will welcome two new head coaches for both the girls and boys basketball teams.
After winning third in State last year under Dave Yates, the girls basketball team will now be managed by former assistant coach and social studies teacher James Han, who has won a state championship of his own as a senior at Schaumburg.
Han acknowledges the challenges and pressures of going into this season with the loss of Yates over the summer.
“This season is going to be a bit of a challenging one for us, having lost Coach Yates this summer,” Han said. “We do have a lot of players coming back, and expectations are always high. That’s the standard that Coach Yates set. So our model this year is just continuing his legacy of excellence.”
As someone who has seen firsthand the influence of coaches in building a successful team, Han is excited to continue Yates’s legacy with the goal of winning state this year. Han is setting the standards high this season, believing that anything short of making it to state would be a little disappointing. However, Han acknowledges the hardships that come with coaching basketball.
“[The most challenging part of coaching] is pushing your team, but knowing when it’s enough…kind of finding a healthy balance between pushing your kids and making sure that they have enough rest, enough health to make it through a long basketball season.”
Han won’t give up though and he comments that his coaching style is a combination of everyone that influenced him over the years. Han has been most impacted by Yates and wants to carry on his meaningful lessons on building relationships and team chemistry.
As a coach, Han loves seeing his team grow and develop throughout the season and post high school.
“It’s all about the kids. It’s all about their experience and seeing them grow, seeing them become tougher, more resilient throughout their career… It’s just a cool thing to see them grow up and become successful past high school.”
Taking over the boys team from former head coach Bob Widlowski, social studies teacher Mike Brown will be the second new head basketball coach this season. Brown, who was also a high school basketball player at Schaumburg, got into coaching to stay involved with the sport.
“I loved basketball, so I wanted to stay in the game,” Brown said. “The best way to do that was to coach. I love strategizing the game. I love competing. You can’t play anymore when you’re an adult, but the best way you can keep on competing is through coaching.”
While he has an ultimate goal of winning this season, the primary goal is creating a strong basketball team. Brown wants to focus on developing team chemistry and toughness to ensure the offense and defense is as strong as possible, and hopes that with a strong team, wins will follow.
Brown explains that his coaching style is a mix of different things.
“I’m like a combination of intense, when I have to be, but also putting my arm around the guys, helping them through hard things when I need to do that,” Brown said.
As a former high school athlete himself, Brown understands the demanding nature of high school basketball. He shares he is able to understand the stressors that come with being a high school athlete.
Brown recognizes that the most challenging part of coaching is off the court.
“It’s all the off the court issues that you have to work with and deal with and solve, like communication and organization,” Brown said.
Throughout the demanding season, Brown appreciates the team’s hard work, when it culminates in a tight knit team and a successful season. From previous seasons, Brown recalls the most rewarding parts of his work.
“It’s dealing with the guys every day and building it all the way through the season, and then hopefully in February, putting it all together and being a really cohesive team.”
