Sunday, Jun. 28, 2009

Former Red Bud coach will take over at Southwestern

Berger is noted for his matchup zone defense

After taking his trademark matchup zone defense to the West Coast, former Red Bud High School basketball coach Curt Berger is bringing it back for a Midwestern encore.

Berger, a former Althoff assistant who spent last season as Collinsville's sophomore coach, has been hired as the boys basketball coach at Southwestern High School in Piasa.

"Of course, that's what I teach best," Berger said of the zone defense that helped his Red Bud teams find success. "I can teach other things, but that's what I teach best. If our kids will buy into it and play with the effort I believe is necessary, there's no reason why we can't be successful."

Southwestern Athletic Director Steve Wooley is hoping for the same thing.

"We're looking for him to come in and work his magic at that end and have some success," Wooley said.

Berger, 50, has a colorful coaching pedigree. The Olney native was a coach at Coulterville High School from 1984-86, then was a men's assistant coach from 1986-90 at the University of Mobile, an NAIA school.

"We're happy to have him," Wooley said. "He brings a ton of experience with him. We've been talking about this position for a little while, and I think he's going to be a pretty good fit."

After switching over to Mobile's women's basketball program as an assistant from 1990-95, Berger coached boys basketball for one season (1995-96) at Concord Triopia, a small school between Alton and Jacksonville.

Berger was at Red Bud from 1996-2004, where his teams were 134-92 in eight seasons.

"I've always known since I left Red Bud that I wanted to be a head coach again," he said. "This was something that appealed to me and, fortunately, I was hired."

From 2006-08, he was the girls basketball coach at Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills, Calif.

"I was their fourth coach in five years," said Berger, who lived in California with his sister. "We just fell in love with Southern California and the weather, all it had to offer. But in California, they have open enrollment and club teams, and people here in the Midwest think there's issues with transferring here.

"Out there, it's not uncommon for some kids to play at two or three different schools and not ever move."

Getting back to his Midwestern roots also was important.

"I enjoyed my two years there, but it's nice to be back in Illinois where basketball is really, really important," Berger said. "I'm really excited about this opportunity."

Berger also coached the boys and girls tennis teams at Collinsville last season. He was hired at Southwestern on Tuesday and will hold his first offseason workout Monday.

"We're going to hit the ground on Monday because the kids haven't been doing anything to this point," said Berger, also looking to hire two assistants. "We're going to put in as much as we can with the rest of the summer."

Berger replaces Larry Lowis, who was not retained despite his 19-10 team winning the South Central West Conference with a 10-0 mark.

In five seasons, Lowis had an 86-59 record at Southwestern with two league championships.

"He does not teach at the school, so every year he had to be rehired," Wooley said of Lowis, a Southwestern High School graduate who also spent eight years as the freshman coach. "There was a consensus there that they wanted to go in a different direction."

Berger likes the school's strong athletic tradition, which includes two state tournament trips in baseball, three state tourney trips in softball and numerous conference, regional and sectional championships in boys and girls basketball.

"They've had some success, not only in basketball but in football and baseball," Berger said. "It's a large 2A school and athletics are important at the school, and the small communities that surround it."

Berger credited Althoff coach Greg Leib and Collinsville coach Chris Kusnerick for giving him an opportunity on their coaching staffs.

"That's two excellent coaches and as good of coaches as they are, they're even better people," Berger said.