O'Toole headed to Neuqua Valley

JOLIET — Joliet Catholic Academy is in the market for a boys head basketball coach.

Mike O’Toole, who has been in charge of the program the past three seasons, informed the JCA administration and his players this week that he has accepted a position at Neuqua Valley.

O’Toole, a Chicago native who played his college basketball for Pat Sullivan at University of St. Francis, was the freshman coach at Neuqua when JCA hired him in the spring of 2006. He will return to Neuqua as a dean of students and also will be a varsity basketball assistant under Wildcats coach Todd Sutton.

“This is a situation where Mike is looking out for his future,” JCA athletic director Dan Sharp said. “He has done a tremendous job for us. He was a lower-level coach when he was brought in, and he proved to be an outstanding head coach.

“I wish we could have had him longer, but I understand why it is he is making this move. The retirement package he can get in public education, and to be an administrator, it will be a nice situation for him and his family.”

O’Toole’s three teams won a total of 26 games while losing 55. JCA has not had a season above .500 in more than 25 years, however, and as Sharp noted, “We have a good group of young players coming up.”

“We didn’t accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish, but we’re proud of the things we did,” O’Toole said. “We worked hard, and we definitely broke a lot of barriers.

“The East Suburban Catholic is one of the best conferences in the state. We beat St. Pat’s, Marist, Marian Catholic and Benet, and that hadn’t been done in a long time. The only two we didn’t beat were Notre Dame and St. Joe’s. That’s something for the boys to shoot for next year and the year after.”

O’Toole noted there was some success throughout the JCA program this past season.

“We won 26 games in the three years, which isn’t going to get you into the Hall of Fame, but it is a step in the right direction,” he said. “We have good kids in the program, and they’re working hard.

“This was the first year since I was here that we had winning records on the freshman and sophomore levels and we started two sophomores on the varsity. We had a lot of juniors, too, so the new coach will have a lot to work with.”

A history major at USF, O’Toole taught religion his first year at JCA, U.S. and world history the last two years. He said he will miss being in the classroom, “but this will be an exciting challenge. I worked with good people here, and I know they have really good people there, too.”

Plus, he has the opportunity to remain involved in basketball.

Neuqua Valley has become a perennial winner under Sutton’s leadership, and the thought of being reunited appeals to O’Toole.

“I have a lot of admiration for Todd Sutton,” he said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with him again.”

Might O’Toole want to be a head coach again some day?

“For next year, I want to concentrate on being a really good dean and assistant coach,” he said. “I’m not ruling out being a head coach again, but all my focus now will be on doing all I can to help Neuqua Valley. They’ve had a bunch of good years. They lose a lot of players from this year’s team, but they also have a lot of talent coming back next year.

“I think Todd (Sutton) will be a Hall of Fame coach. He has turned out some good coaches. Four of his assistants (including O’Toole and Minooka coach Scott Tanaka) have become head coaches in the last three years.”

O’Toole and his wife Rose live in Plainfield with their 5-year-old daughter Bridget and 2-year-old son Patrick. “We’re expecting our third child in early May,” O’Toole said. “It’s a busy time.”

Sharp said JCA will begin its search for a successor in the near future. From the current Hilltopper staff, O’Toole said Eric Futterer is the only assistant who is in the building.