By Mark Gregory
Sports Editor
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
In what he said was a difficult decision, Plainfield Central boys basketball coach Steve Lamberti has stepped down after eight years on the bench.
“This was not as easy decision,” Lamberti said. “I had a lot of fun and I am humbled to have even had the opportunity to begin with. To be a head varsity basketball coach nowadays, you need to be a head varsity basketball coach 365 days a year. That is where I took a step back and said if I am going to be 99 percent in – that is not good enough.”
He is the second District 202 coach to resign this offseason, as East’s Branden Adkins took a position as athletic director at Neuqua Valley shortly after the season ended.
Lamberti took over the program in the 2009-10 season from Josh Virotsko, who had been there only two seasons in relief of longtime coach Dave Stephens.
Lamberti, who was an assistant under both coaches, said this is the right time for him to walk away from the game.
“Dave (Stephens) gave me that opportunity eight years ago, but it is just the right time. Now, I am just looking forward to taking a deep breath and moving on,” he said. “I have been coaching for 18 years and between coaching and playing, I haven’t had a season off in nearly 25 years. It is one of those things where, like every season after it’s over, I took a step back to evaluate and see what we need, where are we at and where are we headed and after this season, I think it is right for me, for the program and right for the kids for me to step back. I have a bunch of good reasons. I wish I had that one great reason.”
Lamberti said that what he will miss most about coaching the Wildcats are the players and spending time with them.
“I loved almost every second of my time coaching, but what is funny is that I don’t think I will miss a lot of it,” he said. “I will miss practice. I will miss being in the gym with the guys and getting on the bus with them and I will miss game nights. All the other stuff is what I won’t miss. Not that it is hard or not that it is bad.”
After three-straight 20-win seasons to start his run, the Wildcats fell on hard times the last few years under Lamberti.
He said that while he wishes the program produced more victories, that was never what coaching was about to him.
“After you win or lose a game, the first thing you talk about is the next game. So as far as substance, the wins and losses go away after a while,” he said. “What I learned from my stops before Plainfield and then working with Dave and Josh and working in that building, that is the culture we have.
“We had some big wins and great moments, but you forget them quickly. You remember the faces and the relationships you build and the nice thing is those continue – they don’t get away.”
It is those relationships the Lamberti will hold most dear from his days coaching the Wildcats.
“We have always tried to make kids better basketball players and better people and darn if I don’t wish we had more win and won this and won that, but I think we really accomplished our goals over the last eight years of really helping the kids be better players and better people. I loved it. We coach it for a reason,” he said. “For me, I just love working with the kids and trying to help them. Going in the locker room after a win or a loss and looking at their faces and watching them learn and be ready to compete. We have outstanding individuals in our program.
“I don’t get to watch Derrick Marks play basketball anymore – or Andre Norris or Curtis Harrington, or some of the others, but I can still talk to them and we still communicate with them as adults and we can text back and forth and see how everyone is doing. When Derrick texted me the other day and said, ‘hey coach, how is the family?” That is why we do this.”
Other than missing his players, he will also miss the other coaches Central played against.
“I have worked with great coaches. Our staffs have been outstanding,” Lamberti said “Just hanging out with the coaching staff and hanging out with the coaches in the conference. There hasn’t been too much turnover in the league and it has been a great group of guys – even adding in the Joliets – it has been a great group of nine guys. I was always excited to talk to the opposing coach before the game. Just to shoot the breeze and see how things are going.”
While he is stepping away from coaching, Lamberti will remain at Central as a department head and will continue to be a fan of the program and its next head coach.
“I am confident that our administration and our athletic department and they will hire someone with the passion and dedication to continue the program and do a great job,” Lamberti said.