Whitefield named Evanston coach

Updated: June 7, 2011 7:32PM

Evanston’s new girls basketball coach, Elliot Whitefield, will take charge of a varsity program for the first time, but he has plenty of experience in the sport.

Whitefield, who was named as Steve Wool’s successor on Monday, has spent over two decades as a lower-level head coach and varsity assistant at various area schools. He is currently the head coach of a girls team for Full Package Athletics.

Whitefield has spent the last two seasons as Wool’s assistant with the Wildkits, his second stint at the school. Earlier in Wool’s tenure, Whitefield spent five successful years as the girls sophomore coach.

In April, Wool announced he was stepping down after 10 seasons in order to become a boys assistant at Evanston. Whitefield felt the timing was right and voiced his interest in the girls head coaching job.

“Since I started coaching, becoming a head coach hadn’t been a priority of mine. I felt it was important to be around when (my kids) were little and running around,” said Whitefield, who teaches special education full-time in Niles Township High School District 219.

“My kids are in junior high and high school now and I felt it would be a great time to give it a shot. I thought I could help the Evanston program.”

Evanston athletic director Chris Livatino said more than 30 coaches inquired about the coaching position, and he interviewed five. The AD said he was impressed with Whitefield’s ability to run structured practices, make basketball fun and build relationships with his players.

“In the five years I’ve done the job, I have not received as many letters of recommendation as I received for Coach Whitefield,” Livatino said. “There was an incredible outpouring from current and past players. They described him as a great basketball coach and someone who really made a lifelong impact on them.”

Whitefield graduated from Maine East in 1984. He has served as a lower-level assistant coach at Glenbard West and as the head boys sophomore coach at Niles North and Glenbrook South. He ran camps for elite high school boys prospects in the early 1990s and now coaches some of the area’s top girls with Full Package.

Whitefield said he likes his teams to play aggressive, pressure defense and get the ball up and down the floor on offense.

He said it will be important to boost numbers in the Evanston program, which he has seen dip in recent seasons. He said it will be important to make basketball fun.

“It’s our job as coaches to make our players enthusiastic about the game and the whole experience,” Whitefield said. “We want them to be close to their teammates. That’s the stuff they remember.”

The Evanston girls varsity went 16-13 this past season, but lose nine seniors to graduation.

Whitefield expects his first team to build around twins Sierra and Seara Clayborn, who will be sophomores next season. Seara Clayborn is coming off an ACL injury. Junior-to-be Alecia Cooley, who stands 6-foot-1, should give the team an inside presence, while the coach expects a big year from senior-to-be Nikki Gill, a guard.

The CSL South will once again feature two of the state’s best players in Niles West’s Jewell Loyd and New Trier’s Maggie Lyon. But Whitefield said his first team won’t just be there to make up the numbers.

“I heard a lot of people say that with Jewell and Maggie returning, that it’s going to be a rebuilding year (at Evanston). But that’s not in my thought process,” he said. “With the talent we have, we’re not going to lay down to anybody. If they are going to beat us, they have to deserve it. We’ll play with incredible confidence and let the chips fall where they may.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.