While some change is expected on a year-to-year basis, the Southland coaching carousel reached warp speed this past offseason.
New appointments hit double digits, although it’s not just second-rate programs with rebuilding designs under new guidance.
Teams with strong players and known success — Marist, Andrew, Lincoln-Way Central, Stagg, St. Rita and Providence, to name a few — have a new look at the top.
Two of the most notable changes are at perennial power Brother Rice and undefeated Lincoln-Way West, the lone unbeaten still standing from the Southland.
At Brother Rice, long-time assistant Dan Dwyer takes over for Paul Ickes, the state’s winningest boys volleyball coach.
The Crusaders should be in good hands under Dwyer, who has loads of experience after serving as a varsity assistant under Ickes for the last 22 years. Ickes, by the way, is now the athletic director at St. Ignatius.
While Dwyer has more than two decades of coaching experience on Lincoln-Way West’s first-year head coach Brian Thorp, both are in a similar boat of knowing their personnel.
Thorp was an assistant under Rory Olson the last two years and gets the perk of inheriting Pepperdine recruit Michael Wexter, one of the top players in the state.
“The goals are high,” Thorp said. “We’ll run a similar system to last year. We have better hitters this year, more versatile, but it will be similar with (Wexter) hitting in the front row and setting in the back.”
Meanwhile at Marist, Jordan Vidovic takes the reins from Jodi Frigo, who is now the head girls volleyball coach at Lincoln-Way Central. Vidovic wasn’t with the boys team last year, but as a four-year starter at Brother Rice and a standout at Lewis, he understands the Southland is a volleyball powerhouse.
“I know the area well,” Vidovic said. “It’s fun to be back in it. I coached a lot on the girls side, but being back in the guys game, which I remember as a player, is exciting and a nice change of pace.”
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Vidovic became familiar with Marist after working as a varsity assistant with girls head coach Julie Hopkins.
“It was a perfect transition for me to take advantage of this opportunity,” Vidovic said.
Lincoln-Way Central coach Neil Lucchetti took a similar path.
“I’ve been coaching at Central with the girls program for the last five years,” Lucchetti said. “I also coached at East under Dawn Murphy and (current coach) Kris Fiore for a few years. I’ve been fortunate enough to keep working hard enough to get a spot.”
Lucchetti should have plenty to talk about during pregame meetings in matches against the other Lincoln-Ways. He and Lincoln-Way North coach Matt Lawrence were college roommates at Quincy, where Lucchetti played soccer and Lawrence volleyball.
“(Lawrence) was a guy I looked up to watching in high school and now as a coach,” Lucchetti said. “Eventually in my coaching career, I want to be like those guys.”
Player of the Week
Aaron Kummer, of Marist, is the Daily Southtown Boys Volleyball Player of the Week.
Kummer, a junior setter, dished 35 assists and four blocks in a win over Lincoln-Way North. He added 103 assists in five matches at the Marist Invitational, where the RedHawks placed fourth of 24.
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer.
Boys Volleyball Top 10
Records through Wednesday; preseason rank rank in parenthesis
1. Lincoln-Way West 7-0 (1)
2. Sandburg 6-1 (3)
3. Joliet Catholic 6-1 (5)
4. Lincoln-Way East 4-2 (4)
5. Lockport 6-1 (NR)
6. Brother Rice 4-4 (6)
7. Marist 5-2 (NR)
8. Andrew 6-2 (9)
9. Lincoln-Way Central 5-3 (2)
10. Lincoln-Way North 4-3 (7)