Turmoil ends at St. Edward

Dismissals, suspensions, walkouts, resignations, hirings . . . if the last two weeks have felt like, oh, two lifetimes for St. Edward, it would be no surprise.

But the Green Wave finally will have its new start Friday night, having named former Rockford Christian and Taft head coach Frank Hood as its new basketball coach Wednesday. His first game on the bench will be against Aurora Catholic.

“We’re moving on,” St. Edward athletic director Don Huber said.

Hood takes over for Kevin Dix, who resigned Dec. 1. That came less than a week after Dix and senior guard Joe Keating had a verbal confrontation during a Thanksgiving tournament, which led to Dix dismissing Keating from the team.

Six other St. Edward players left the team in protest of Keating’s dismissal. But Keating has returned–though reportedly with a two-game suspension–and so have the players who left with him.

Hood, who was suspended for a year by the IHSA in November 2002 for “exercising undue influence to secure the attendance” of a student-athlete at Rockford Christian, was not coaching at the time of his hire.

After further review . . .

The powers that be in Minnesota high school athletics may be headed down a historic path, voting in instant replay for use during its basketball and hockey state tournaments. But IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman doesn’t expect his organization to follow suit.

“We have no interest in that,” Hickman said this week. “I’m sure they have their reasons for going to it. But I think at our level, for one, it would be very difficult to implement. Secondly, I think there always been and should be a human element to officiating. I don’t know where you draw the line when you start using instant replay.”

Brian Hamilton

Moving right along

It has been a smooth transition for Homewood-Flossmoor’s boys basketball team, which graduated four starters, lost a key underclassman and watched its highly successful coach retire.

The eighth-ranked Vikings have won their first six games under former assistant James McLaughlin and with a lineup featuring 6-foot-7-inch Andre Walker (14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals per game), 6-7 David Gray, 6-6 Carl Hayes and sophomores Kevin Dillard (17 points, four assists) and 6-4 Supo Sanni.

“Andre is a very talented player who does everything well, and Kevin has been hanging around our gym since he was 6 years old,” said McLaughlin, who succeeded Roy Condotti.

Bob Sakamoto

Helping out

Wheaton Academy’s soccer team has soccer balls, team uniform sets and air pumps on its wish list this holiday season. However, none of the equipment will be kept. Players Pat Mitchell, Andrew Leman, Matt Taylor, Alex Pavlisin and Justin Kosirog, five Warriors alumni and boys coach Chip Huber and girls coach Dave Underwood will help distribute the goods during a trip to Zambia from Jan. 3-13.

World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization, will use the excitement generated by the Wheaton contingent’s clinics and matches to educate residents about AIDS.

Wheaton Academy has collected more than 1,000 new and gently used soccer balls toward its goal of 10,000.

For information, call 630-562-7500.

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