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Yorkville hires Tommy Stokke as new girls basketball coach · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville hires Tommy Stock as new girls basketball coach. Written
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  Speaker 1: by Joshua Welgin. This article is being read by an
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  Speaker 1: automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Tommy Stock long
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  Speaker 1: held hopes to move up the coaching ladder to become
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  Speaker 1: a head coach, but he also did not want to
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  Speaker 1: force himself into a job for the sake of the position.
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  Speaker 1: He feels fortunate at his first opportunity. Stock, a two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and nine Minuka graduate who has coached from middle
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  Speaker 1: school to varsity assistant boys and girls both in that
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  Speaker 1: district and at Joliet West, has been hired as the
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  Speaker 1: head girls basketball coach at Yorkville. Stocky replaces Kim Winset's,
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  Speaker 1: who stepped down after nine seasons as coach. I have
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  Speaker 1: a strong appreciation for what Kim does and what she did.
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  Speaker 1: It was a job I never expected to be open,
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  Speaker 1: Stock said. When I saw the opening, I reached out
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  Speaker 1: right away. Super lucky that my first chance is at
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  Speaker 1: a place with a strong foundation with a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things in place. Stock, a content manager for vox Media's
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  Speaker 1: SB Nation who lives in Plainfield with his wife and
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  Speaker 1: one year old daughter, first cut his teeth coaching boys
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  Speaker 1: basketball at Shanahan Junior High for two years. He then
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  Speaker 1: coached eighth grade girls for six where his teams went
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  Speaker 1: to state three consecutive years. He coached Madeline Kuiper, who
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  Speaker 1: went on to star at Manukah and is headed to
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  Speaker 1: Kent State from there. He was a JV coach and
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  Speaker 1: varsity assistant at Juliet West, varsity assistant at Manukah, and
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  Speaker 1: moved to freshman boys at Manukah on Brett Hespell's staff.
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  Speaker 1: I knew the Yorkville JV job was open, but I
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  Speaker 1: didn't know the varsity was open until Brett reached out
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  Speaker 1: to me and said they were looking. Stock said, I
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  Speaker 1: was surprised. I followed the conference close. There were jobs
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  Speaker 1: that opened up and I interviewed for where it was. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: it's a varsity job. That wasn't the case with Yorkville.
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville fits what I would be excited about. It also
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  Speaker 1: fits Stock's goal to move back to coaching girls basketball.
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  Speaker 1: I've found an appreciation for girls basketball and how it's growing.
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  Speaker 1: Stocky said, it's getting its proper due now. It was
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  Speaker 1: underserved before. I've taken a liking to the game and
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  Speaker 1: what you can do in it. Yorkville Athletic director Luke Engelhardt,
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  Speaker 1: who was himself girls basketball coach for six years prior
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  Speaker 1: to Whence It's time, saw in Stock a coach very
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  Speaker 1: excited and eager to take on the challenge of becoming
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  Speaker 1: a head coach. Whoever was getting the job already has
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  Speaker 1: a foundation in place, a good community that supports girls'
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  Speaker 1: bast basketball. What I wanted was someone that would attract
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  Speaker 1: kids to being a part of the program. Engelhart said,
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  Speaker 1: girls' basketball is a tough sport. It's a sport that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of schools are having trouble getting kids to
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  Speaker 1: stay involved. We needed someone to bring enthusiasm, to bring
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  Speaker 1: a level of excitement, to build a culture that kids
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  Speaker 1: want to be a part of. He has that type
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  Speaker 1: of personality. Stock has hit the ground running. Hired for
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  Speaker 1: less than two weeks, Stock's first day was the teacher's
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  Speaker 1: last day at Yorkville. Engelhart recalled Stock being the last
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  Speaker 1: person in the building. Acquainting himself with coaches, you can
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  Speaker 1: tell hard work won't be a problem with him, Engelhart said, basketball,
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  Speaker 1: in particular, you got to put the time in. He
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  Speaker 1: will focus on relationships that is evident. Stock is grateful
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  Speaker 1: that Engelhart believed in his vision for the program and
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  Speaker 1: was open minded to believe in a coach who is
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  Speaker 1: not a teacher and has a lengthier coaching background in
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  Speaker 1: middle school than high school. I feel like I've been ready,
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  Speaker 1: Stock said. I'm grateful that he was able to believe
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  Speaker 1: in that. Stock also appreciates having a resource in the
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  Speaker 1: building like Wencett's and an ad that cares about the program.
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville's freshman group was undefeated in conference this past season,
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  Speaker 1: and Stock is also excited about the eighth grade group.
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  Speaker 1: What I say to everyone is I want to make
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  Speaker 1: sure I am built my system around the players. Stock said,
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  Speaker 1: too many coaches say this is my system no matter
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  Speaker 1: what the situation. Ideally, I want to play fast. I
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  Speaker 1: want to make it a full court game, especially a
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  Speaker 1: place like Yorkville where we will have athletes