Dedication,
Longevity, Take
Priority Over Wins
Longevity, Take
Priority Over Wins
Whatever abundance of numbers attached to
a coach is smaller than we think ...
a coach is smaller than we think ...
Like the credit score commercials, people seem to have a certain number attached to
themselves. For coaches, it's a maximum amount of certain accomplishments.
Steve Goers's number is 881.
That's how many career head coaching wins the recently-retired Rockford Boylan boys
basketball coach has. People from all over the Illinois high school basketball scene will
think of the number 881 when they think of Goers. They'll think of it because that particular
number, for now, is at the top of the list when it comes to most head coaching wins in Illinois
high school boys basketball history.
The number 881 is one of many attached to Goers. When the assistant-coaching wins from
Quincy (1969-72) are added into the fold, the number goes up to 950. Add in boys tennis
wins, and that grows even more. Pretty soon the significance of 881 doesn't stand out as
high.
But there is a smaller number that most describes Goers. That number is 43 – the number
of years he has taught and coached.
Not too many coaches in the area have both taught and coached for more than 40 years.
Goers is one of a few, but even those coaches can't boast the same amount of
accomplishments as Goers does.
That's over 40 years of dedication and commitment to shaping young boys into men,
through the game of basketball. In addition to doing that as a coach, he did it as a gym
teacher in 32 years at Boylan. Most public school teachers consider retirement after 32
years. For Goers, the 32nd year was a while ago.
With his retirement, Goers is the last area varsity head-coaching link to the 1960s and one-
class basketball. While his successes as head coach at Boylan has been well documented,
Goers had a successful career even before then.
Bardolph High School was where it all started for the Chicago Gage Park alum, in 1967.
Located outside of Macomb, Bardolph is a small town whose high school closed in 1973.
The school was torn down in the last couple of years. But it would eventually be the
stepping stone in a long career. Goers's Wildcats went 7-14 that year against district foes
such as Industry and Spoon River Valley. The 1967-68 season would be the only year
Goers was at Bardolph.
Not soon afterward, Goers landed at an assistant coaching position at Quincy, staying
there from 1969 to 1972. The Blue Devils were among the state's premier programs under
head coach Sherrill Hanks. In Goers' first year as an assistant Quincy went 20-8, and then
21-7 the following year. Throughout his head coaching career, Goers led eight teams to
the IHSA State Tournament. His first taste at the State Tournament was as an assistant in
1972 – the first year of the two-class system in IHSA boys basketball.
The 1972 season in boys basketball may best be remembered for Dolton Thornridge's
domination to the Class AA State Title. However, to win that title Thornridge had to get by
the Blue Devils, and Hanks and Goers. Quincy defeated East Aurora in the semifinal by the
score of 107-96 in the only Tournament game to have more than 200 points scored by
both teams. The up-tempo play wouldn't quite hold up against defending champ
Thornridge, as the Blue Devils fell 104-69 in the Class AA title game.
Success at Quincy eventually helped Goers land his second head coaching job for the
1972-73 season. Oswego was open, and Goers would stay for two years.
While his tenure was brief, it was a memorable run for Oswego. Goers inherited a team with
six straight losing seasons against competition in the Little 7 Conference. The ship was
righted in year one, setting a school record for most wins in a season with 19 against six
losses. Greater success came in year two, when the first regional title in program history
was won.
The success kept going. An Aurora sweep (West, then East) gave the Panthers the first
sectional title in program history. Crystal Lake wasn't able to stop the surprising run by the
Panthers in the Super-Sectional, as Oswego won 64-47. Two years removed from helping
Quincy take second at the State Tournament, Goers was back at Assembly Hall – leading
Oswego into uncharted waters. However, the Panthers were one-and-done in Champaign,
falling to Breese Mater Dei 63-49 in the semis.
Goers was on the move once more, taking his trade to LaSalle-Peru for the 1974-75
school year. The Cavaliers were the NCIC's premier boys basketball program of the late
1960s and early 1970s. While there was no real “history” to make at L-P in contrast to
Oswego, Goers held down the fort for three years until an unexpected departure after the
1976-77 school year. Goers went 49-29 in three years at LaSalle-Peru, and coached the
Cavaliers to a regional title in 1976.
Having taken the 1977-78 school year off from coaching, Goers became the basketball
coach at Harvard for the 1978-79 school year. Like entering at Oswego, Goers took over a
program that had six straight losing seasons. In his first year – and like his first at L-P –
Harvard had a .500 record, at 13-13. The next season saw an improvement at 19-7 as a
contender for a Shark Conference title.
Elsewhere in Northern Illinois, the end of an era occurred at Rockford Boylan. Dolph
Stanley, known for taking five different schools to the IHSA Tournament in a long and
storied career, had finally retired. The aging Stanley coached back-to-back 20-loss
seasons for Boylan before stepping aside. Goers had experience in rekindling program
successes at Oswego and Harvard, and Boylan picked him to do the same with the Titan
program.
The rest is history.
There is simply too much history to tell about Boylan Titan basketball from 1980 on, but in
a nutshell ...
Boylan has never had a losing season since the first Goers-coached team went 7-17 in
1980-81. In all, Goers coached Boylan to 740 wins in 32 years – an average of 23 wins a
season. Goers' first regional and sectional title at Boylan came the following year (the final
year of the Big 9 Conference) as the Titans finished at 21-9. Two years later, Boylan had
its only undefeated season before finishing 27-1. After that year, things really began to
take off.
Boylan established itself as not only a NIC-10 power in the mid-1980s, but also a Class AA
state power. The Titans had three straight trips to the Class AA State Tournament from
1984-85 to 1986-87. Sectional titles came in the following two years for five straight with
winning a sectional title.
Missing from the Titan program accomplishments was a win at Assembly Hall – something
Goers hasn't done since 1972. That win came 20 years later in the 1992 tournament, as
Boylan beat Bradley-Bourbonnais 49-47 in the quarterfinal. The Titans would fall one-point
shy of making it to the championship game, falling to Peoria Richwoods 47-46 in the
semifinal. Boylan would fall to Chicago Westinghouse to claim fourth place. In the next two
state tournament appearances, Boylan would win their opening game but lose the next two
to claim fourth again in both 1993-94 and 1996-97.
Ten years after Boylan's 1997 appearance, Goers would coach Boylan to the 2006-07
Class AA Tournament – the last in the two-class system. In a bit of trivia, Goers coached
teams at both the first two-class basketball State Tournament, and the final two-class
basketball Tournament. That year, a one-and-done effort against Lincolnshire Stevenson,
would be the final trip to the big dance for a Goers-coached team.
As the years, and wins, piled up, Goers became in contention for a record that isn't much
looked at for coaches – Dick Van Scyoc's 826 career head coaching wins. Goers and
Westchester St. Joseph's Gene Pingatore were running neck-to-neck from this point on.
Although an accomplishment was downplayed by Goers (and Pinagtore, too), he wasn't the
first to surpass Van Scyoc. Pingatore had that honor first. But on December 4, 2010 Goers
won his 863rd game in a conference game at Rockford Jefferson to put him ahead of
Pingatore since both passed Van Scyoc.
The coaching-win milestone margin grew to ten games heading into March 4. That night, in
a Jefferson Regional final against fellow west-side rival Auburn, Goers would coach the
final game of his career. Auburn held off a pair of Boylan rallies to win 59-43.
“We ran out of gas,” Goers said after the game. “Auburn played great defense and they
deserved to win.”
In typical Goers fashion, the media conference after a Boylan loss was kept to a minimum
with little to say. After all, these games aren't about him – but rather the kids who play in
them.
For 43 hard-working and dedicating years, this has been his philosophy.
And for that we salute you, Steve, and wish you well on your retirement.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat (at) yahoo (dot)
com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message Boards!
themselves. For coaches, it's a maximum amount of certain accomplishments.
Steve Goers's number is 881.
That's how many career head coaching wins the recently-retired Rockford Boylan boys
basketball coach has. People from all over the Illinois high school basketball scene will
think of the number 881 when they think of Goers. They'll think of it because that particular
number, for now, is at the top of the list when it comes to most head coaching wins in Illinois
high school boys basketball history.
The number 881 is one of many attached to Goers. When the assistant-coaching wins from
Quincy (1969-72) are added into the fold, the number goes up to 950. Add in boys tennis
wins, and that grows even more. Pretty soon the significance of 881 doesn't stand out as
high.
But there is a smaller number that most describes Goers. That number is 43 – the number
of years he has taught and coached.
Not too many coaches in the area have both taught and coached for more than 40 years.
Goers is one of a few, but even those coaches can't boast the same amount of
accomplishments as Goers does.
That's over 40 years of dedication and commitment to shaping young boys into men,
through the game of basketball. In addition to doing that as a coach, he did it as a gym
teacher in 32 years at Boylan. Most public school teachers consider retirement after 32
years. For Goers, the 32nd year was a while ago.
With his retirement, Goers is the last area varsity head-coaching link to the 1960s and one-
class basketball. While his successes as head coach at Boylan has been well documented,
Goers had a successful career even before then.
Bardolph High School was where it all started for the Chicago Gage Park alum, in 1967.
Located outside of Macomb, Bardolph is a small town whose high school closed in 1973.
The school was torn down in the last couple of years. But it would eventually be the
stepping stone in a long career. Goers's Wildcats went 7-14 that year against district foes
such as Industry and Spoon River Valley. The 1967-68 season would be the only year
Goers was at Bardolph.
Not soon afterward, Goers landed at an assistant coaching position at Quincy, staying
there from 1969 to 1972. The Blue Devils were among the state's premier programs under
head coach Sherrill Hanks. In Goers' first year as an assistant Quincy went 20-8, and then
21-7 the following year. Throughout his head coaching career, Goers led eight teams to
the IHSA State Tournament. His first taste at the State Tournament was as an assistant in
1972 – the first year of the two-class system in IHSA boys basketball.
The 1972 season in boys basketball may best be remembered for Dolton Thornridge's
domination to the Class AA State Title. However, to win that title Thornridge had to get by
the Blue Devils, and Hanks and Goers. Quincy defeated East Aurora in the semifinal by the
score of 107-96 in the only Tournament game to have more than 200 points scored by
both teams. The up-tempo play wouldn't quite hold up against defending champ
Thornridge, as the Blue Devils fell 104-69 in the Class AA title game.
Success at Quincy eventually helped Goers land his second head coaching job for the
1972-73 season. Oswego was open, and Goers would stay for two years.
While his tenure was brief, it was a memorable run for Oswego. Goers inherited a team with
six straight losing seasons against competition in the Little 7 Conference. The ship was
righted in year one, setting a school record for most wins in a season with 19 against six
losses. Greater success came in year two, when the first regional title in program history
was won.
The success kept going. An Aurora sweep (West, then East) gave the Panthers the first
sectional title in program history. Crystal Lake wasn't able to stop the surprising run by the
Panthers in the Super-Sectional, as Oswego won 64-47. Two years removed from helping
Quincy take second at the State Tournament, Goers was back at Assembly Hall – leading
Oswego into uncharted waters. However, the Panthers were one-and-done in Champaign,
falling to Breese Mater Dei 63-49 in the semis.
Goers was on the move once more, taking his trade to LaSalle-Peru for the 1974-75
school year. The Cavaliers were the NCIC's premier boys basketball program of the late
1960s and early 1970s. While there was no real “history” to make at L-P in contrast to
Oswego, Goers held down the fort for three years until an unexpected departure after the
1976-77 school year. Goers went 49-29 in three years at LaSalle-Peru, and coached the
Cavaliers to a regional title in 1976.
Having taken the 1977-78 school year off from coaching, Goers became the basketball
coach at Harvard for the 1978-79 school year. Like entering at Oswego, Goers took over a
program that had six straight losing seasons. In his first year – and like his first at L-P –
Harvard had a .500 record, at 13-13. The next season saw an improvement at 19-7 as a
contender for a Shark Conference title.
Elsewhere in Northern Illinois, the end of an era occurred at Rockford Boylan. Dolph
Stanley, known for taking five different schools to the IHSA Tournament in a long and
storied career, had finally retired. The aging Stanley coached back-to-back 20-loss
seasons for Boylan before stepping aside. Goers had experience in rekindling program
successes at Oswego and Harvard, and Boylan picked him to do the same with the Titan
program.
The rest is history.
There is simply too much history to tell about Boylan Titan basketball from 1980 on, but in
a nutshell ...
Boylan has never had a losing season since the first Goers-coached team went 7-17 in
1980-81. In all, Goers coached Boylan to 740 wins in 32 years – an average of 23 wins a
season. Goers' first regional and sectional title at Boylan came the following year (the final
year of the Big 9 Conference) as the Titans finished at 21-9. Two years later, Boylan had
its only undefeated season before finishing 27-1. After that year, things really began to
take off.
Boylan established itself as not only a NIC-10 power in the mid-1980s, but also a Class AA
state power. The Titans had three straight trips to the Class AA State Tournament from
1984-85 to 1986-87. Sectional titles came in the following two years for five straight with
winning a sectional title.
Missing from the Titan program accomplishments was a win at Assembly Hall – something
Goers hasn't done since 1972. That win came 20 years later in the 1992 tournament, as
Boylan beat Bradley-Bourbonnais 49-47 in the quarterfinal. The Titans would fall one-point
shy of making it to the championship game, falling to Peoria Richwoods 47-46 in the
semifinal. Boylan would fall to Chicago Westinghouse to claim fourth place. In the next two
state tournament appearances, Boylan would win their opening game but lose the next two
to claim fourth again in both 1993-94 and 1996-97.
Ten years after Boylan's 1997 appearance, Goers would coach Boylan to the 2006-07
Class AA Tournament – the last in the two-class system. In a bit of trivia, Goers coached
teams at both the first two-class basketball State Tournament, and the final two-class
basketball Tournament. That year, a one-and-done effort against Lincolnshire Stevenson,
would be the final trip to the big dance for a Goers-coached team.
As the years, and wins, piled up, Goers became in contention for a record that isn't much
looked at for coaches – Dick Van Scyoc's 826 career head coaching wins. Goers and
Westchester St. Joseph's Gene Pingatore were running neck-to-neck from this point on.
Although an accomplishment was downplayed by Goers (and Pinagtore, too), he wasn't the
first to surpass Van Scyoc. Pingatore had that honor first. But on December 4, 2010 Goers
won his 863rd game in a conference game at Rockford Jefferson to put him ahead of
Pingatore since both passed Van Scyoc.
The coaching-win milestone margin grew to ten games heading into March 4. That night, in
a Jefferson Regional final against fellow west-side rival Auburn, Goers would coach the
final game of his career. Auburn held off a pair of Boylan rallies to win 59-43.
“We ran out of gas,” Goers said after the game. “Auburn played great defense and they
deserved to win.”
In typical Goers fashion, the media conference after a Boylan loss was kept to a minimum
with little to say. After all, these games aren't about him – but rather the kids who play in
them.
For 43 hard-working and dedicating years, this has been his philosophy.
And for that we salute you, Steve, and wish you well on your retirement.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat (at) yahoo (dot)
com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message Boards!
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Rockford Boylan head boys basketball coach
Steve Goers announced his retirement last week.
Rockford Boylan head boys basketball coach
Steve Goers announced his retirement last week.
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |