Geneva certainly isn’t broke, so new coach Scott Hennig doesn’t feel compelled to fix it.
In the past nine years, Phil Ralston had the most successful run of any boys basketball coach with multiple years on the job in program history.
Ralston’s teams went 193-77 for a .715 winning percentage, finishing fourth in state in 2014-2015 and averaging 25.2 wins over the past five years.
Hennig, 32, was a part of that as an assistant at Geneva the last eight seasons. He coached the freshman team for one season, the sophomores for three, and spent the last four as Ralston’s varsity assistant.
He also coached in the baseball program under Matt Hahn.
Don’t look for Hennig to try to be a Ralston clone, however. His fingerprints will be on the program.
“We’ll play a little more uptempo, for one,” Hennig said.
A Hoffman Estates graduate, Hennig’s senior team lost in the 2003 playoffs to future Duke All-American Jon Scheyer and Glenbrook North. Hennig could have played at a small college, but chose not to.
He earned his bachelor’s degree at Aurora University and his master’s at North Central College in Naperville.
Hennig credits Ralston, who has moved on to Glenbrook South, with helping prepare him to be a head coach. Learning about the administrative tasks of running a program and communicating with parents were just part of it.
“He did a great job of mentoring,” Hennig said. “He’d say, ‘Scott, this is what I do, this is why I do it and this why I think it works.’ He told me when I became a head coach, ‘You have to do what works for you.’
“He did a great job of showing me his way and letting me do my way. I was appreciative of that.”
He also appreciates his situation, after being endorsed for the job by his former boss.
“I think we have some pieces that can keep us where we’re at,” Hennig said. “It’s hard to get to the next level when you win 25 games, which Phil did almost every year.
“I’m not going to change a whole lot. The culture, in terms of winning, is very good. Phil and I were together eight of nine years. It’s a credit to Phil he won (an average of nearly) 22 games. I just helped him.”
Henning is excited to put his stamp on things as well.
“I’m looking forward to this challenge,” he said. “Our sophomores tied for the (Upstate Eight River) title with Batavia last year. I’m really excited about this junior class.”
There’s good reason. The Vikings (28-3) had sophomore guards Jack McDonald and Mitch Mascari as well as freshman Nate Santos contributing as the varsity started the season with a program-record 26 straight wins.
“Our league is going to be loaded,” Hennig said. “St. Charles North and East and Batavia will all be strong and Larkin, which has everyone back from a sectional finalist, might be the favorite.
“Streamwood might be the best it’s been in my years here and Elgin is always competitive. There are going to be no nights off, which makes it fun.”
Twitter @RickArmstrong28
