Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Maine West, Kipp Mark Milestone
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal Sports
Derril Kipp clearly remembers his first Maine West coaching win, and he loves to tell everyone about it.
Despite 29 seasons of wins and losses, dozens of championships at all levels, nearly 1,000 games, and all the hoopla that goes with it, Kipp recalled his first win last Friday night. He did so right in the middle of a wild celebration of his 700th win before a respectfully appreciative crowd of fans, alumni, former players, students and a large press contingent in the West Spectator Gym.
"It was against Deerfield at their place early in the 1981-82 season, and we upset them, because they had a real good team that year," Kipp said. He quickly expanded on the story. "We went down to the sectional final that year and got beat by a couple of free throws. The next year, we won our first super-sectional against the same team, and got into our first elite eight final."
Those teams featured Mary Just and Mary Logicz; two names on what would become a long list of outstanding players at West.
But fast forward now to the present, as the Maine West community savored his latest milestone in a 29-year career. His teams have averaged 24 wins per season. Twenty-win seasons are to Kipp and the Maine West girls program what drinking a glass of water is to the rest of us.
Maine West loves Kipp---respectfully---and they wasted no time showing it last Friday.
Fans and players chanted "Mister Kipp, Mister Kipp," in the post-game celebration after the Lady Warriors honored their legendary coach with a "special" 43-30 victory over Glenbrook North.
Kipp's 700 career victories have all come as Maine West's varsity coach since 1981-82. He is the fourth girls coach in state history to reach the 700 milestone, behind Dorothy Gators of Chicago Marshall, Evan Massey of Galesburg, and Dave Power of Fenwick.
With all due respect to GBN, the celebration began in the second half, after West had built a 23-point lead late in the third quarter. Fans and students held up small signs with the number "700" on them. The crowd noise steadily rose until it reached a crescendo at the final gun. Then golden-voiced public address announcer Tom Sochowski had a beautiful opportunity to do his thing as only he and his booming voice can.
He reminded fans of Kipp's many milestones in a 29-year career at West:
* 23 Central Suburban League conference championships, 23 regional titles, 10 sectional crowns, 7 super-sectional wins, 7 state elite eight finals appearances, one undefeated season and state championship (1987-88), 96 all-conference players coached, 60 all-area players mentored, 35 all-state players coached, 5 All-American players produced, and 60 college scholarship players coached.
Plus the famous, state-record 65 straight wins in 1987-89, a feat not equaled in 22 years and which will not be broken anytime soon.
Ironically, this achievement is taking place in a season that will go down as the second worst in Kipp's 29 seasons at West. While the victory over GBN was the Warriors fourth in a row, they are bogged down in an 11-16 season that will be West's second losing regular-season campaign. The other one was four years ago, when he had a heart attack and was unable to coach for more than half of the season schedule.
Friday's win was not a dominating one, but was a workmanlike effort against a conference rival whom the Warriors had beaten by 16 points a month before. Megan O'Neill led the team with 16 points, all in the middle two quarters, including a 5-5 night at the foul line. She also grabbed 9 rebounds. After trailing 6-5 after one quarter, West roared off on a 20-0 run over most of the second quarter and part of the third that gave them 39-16 lead.
Ellen Coogan had more than 6 rebounds and scored 8 points, and Sam Acosta, returning after two weeks off to take care of a sore knee, chipped in with 7 in the third quarter.
Seven Warriors scored in this game, and all of them played, for two reasons – Kipp wanted to give as many players as possible a chance to play in this game, and he also wanted to rest his starters because West had two Sweet 16 tournament games to play on Saturday.
(On Saturday, the Warriors split. They defeated Schaumburg, 44-35, in a morning game behind the scoring of O'Neill and Acosta. They lost to Sandburg, 47-30, in an afternoon game, again led in scoring by O'Neill and Acosta).
Attending the game were nearly 20 former Warrior players, including Nancy Kennelly-Olson, the all-state point guard on the 87-88 state title team. "A lot of players are coming back; I wouldn't miss this one for anything," Kennelly-Olson said.
Kipp was presented with a large trophy featuring a gold basketball by Principal Audrey Haugen and Athletic Director Chris Addante as fans gobbled up burritos provided by a sponsoring community restaurant. His players presented him with the game ball, which had the date, opponent, and 700 painted on it.
In his usual fashion, Kipp defined the ingredients of a 700-win coaching career, and praised all of the players and organizations that have made it possible.
"This number of wins is an accomplishment mostly by the players," he said. "I've had a ton of fun working with them. This is the greatest basketball school in the state. We've had great staffs and I've had so many great assistants.
"I'm proudest of the 65-game record, that won't be broken soon, and of so many kids who have come through our program who have played a lot of college basketball," he said. "That has given me a lot of satisfaction over the years."
"We were nervous at first, but we tried to do what he (Kipp) said and just treat it as a conference game," said Ellen Coogan, a senior. "I remember watching the game as a freshman when he reached 600 wins. We all knew, however, that we just had to win this one for him at home, so that provided extra incentive."
"We knew we had to win this one for our conference this season, and also for him," said Sam Acosta, who was cleared to play for this game by her doctor after sitting out a couple of weeks with a sore knee. "The knee is fine, and I think in this game we also came to realize that we are better than our record, which has been bad lately," she went on. "We now believe we can step up and come out stronger from now on."
The Warriors have three games left this season - Lyons and Niles North at home this week, and at Highland Park on Feb. 12. They have a slim chance of tying for the conference championship, but that would require help from other teams and isn't likely.
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