Forget the mistakes. The tough losses.
Kevin Green could deal with those during his first couple of weeks as the new girls basketball coach at Thornwood.
What he did have trouble dealing with was it didn’t seem to bother the players.
“It was like they had a defeatist attitude,” Green said. “One of them told me, ‘We’re used to losing.’
“That is not conducive to the new coaching staff and the new mentality. My coaching staff and myself have always had the mentality that regardless of what you’ve got, it’s how you work with it.”
Rest assured, as the new year is upon us and we head into the second half of the season, there aren’t any defeatist attitudes anymore.
Feeling confident is really the only way Green has ever known.
In his previous head coaching job at Seton, he posted five winning seasons with 112 wins, five sectional titles and a fourth-place finish at state in Class 1A.
When Seton closed in June due to financial difficulties, I figured Green would be a hot coaching commodity. As it turned out, he didn’t even have to leave South Holland.
The move came with new challenges.
Thornwood has had many shining moments in sports, winning state titles in baseball, softball and boys track. The boys basketball team has been to state four times.
The girls basketball team made it to state in 2000 and remained competitive into the middle 2000s. But for the past several years, it’s been a struggle.
Aija Sgrignoli was a starting guard on last year’s 6-19 team that lost in the first round of the state playoffs to T.F. South. The Thunderbirds also lost to Seton in a regular-season game.
Sgrignoli didn’t remember too many details except one.
“I just know they blew us out,” Sgrignoli said with a laugh.
Sgrignoli, now a junior, says that she’s glad to have Green on Thornwood’s bench.
“The way he coaches is very different,” Sgrignoli said. “We learn more and he doesn’t give up on us. He encourages us not to give up and to keep going.”
It’s been a learning curve for everyone concerned.
In between bumps, the Thunderbirds (5-10) gained revenge against T.F. South in the Bobby Bolton Classic at Richards. They have since beaten T.F. North, Rockford Jefferson and Joliet Catholic, and Wednesday defeated Eisenhower 45-32.
They worked through losing scoring leader Hannah Norwood (knee injury), and found new leaders in Sgrignoli and junior guard Diamond Stallworth.
Stallworth says basketball is enjoyable with Green running the show.
“He changes things up to make things fun,” Stallworth said. “I didn’t even like playing basketball and I wasn’t even going to try (out) this year. But once I started playing for him, he made everything different.
“He gave everybody hope. We didn’t really believe in ourselves to do things, and he tells us how athletic we are and how talented we are. That made us happy. He’s a really great coach.”
Green? He’s learning a new coaching game. At Seton, he guided talent. Here, he’s developing talent.
“At times it gets frustrating,” Green said. “But when you see them do something that you showed them, it shows they’re paying attention.
“Those are the lights. At Seton, everything was somewhat of a light. Now there are some dark spots, but every time I see them do something new that I’ve taught them, it’s a light.”
He isn’t the only one seeing the light.
“I have parents who say that they look 300 percent better than they did last year and they look 100 percent better than they did to start the season,” Green said. “When you have the parents coming up and telling you that, you feel better.”
Twitter @tbaranek