Previously coached in Willowbrook program.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
York recently announced Brandon Collings has been hired as the school’s new girls basketball coach.
Collings replaces Maggie Ely who coached the team for a year. Collings is York’s third girls basketball coach in as many years.
“The people I have met from the administration to the parents have been great,” said Collings. “There is talent here and there is a feeder program that is in place.”
Collings most recently was the head sophomore coach at Willowbrook where he teaches special education. Collings spent a total of eight years in the Willowbrook girls program, six as head sophomore coach and two years as the varsity assistant coach.
Prior to Willowbrook, Collings was the head girls coach at Henry-Senachwine High School for four years. Henry-Sneachwine is located 40 minutes north of Peoria.
In the three years prior to Collings taking over, the team had won one game each year and had lost 25-plus games each year by an average of 34 points per game.
In his first year at H-S, Collings’ team cut that point differential to 13 and lost 12 games by eight points or less. The team won three games. In his second season, the team won 10 games (first time with 10 or more wins in 15 years) and took third in the conference. The team won 14 games in his third year (most wins in school history and first time with a .500 or better record in 25 years) and took second in conference. In his final season, the team won 11 games, took third in the conference and lost to the state’s No. 1 ranked team by 10 points in the regionals. He led H-S to the school’s best three-year win total ever.
At Willowbrook, Collings was given control during a five-year stretch of the program’s offense, creating the varsity team’s main offense and all set plays, while also designing the sophomore and freshman offenses, which are tailored to concentrate on specific aspects of the varsity offense.
Willowbrook had a program-wide 202-87 record while Collings’ offensive system was in place. During his time as head sophomore girls coach and head sophomore baseball coach, Collings’ teams had a 231-119 overall record.
“You have to change your coaching style from team to team and change the look based on the players you have,” said Collings. “The team here at York is athletic but we’re not that big. Our post players are athletic. We’re going to put pressure on people in the full court and half court. We’ll spread the floor offensively and look to create mismatches with our post players. The first step is getting out and running and putting pressure on people.”
Collings said he’s stepping into an ideal situation at York.
“I couldn’t have asked for better,” he said. “I’m very excited to get started. I know there has been a lot of turnover with the head coaching position. They are looking and hoping for stability. I want to bring that stability the program needs. I want to stay here as long as they will have me.”
Due to the lateness of Collings’ hiring during the summer contact period, Collings had a limited window to get to know the team.
“It would have been a difficult situation with getting hired and having no contact with the girls and jumping into practice Oct. 30,” he said. I showed them what we want to do offensively, I’m introducing a new offense. The big thing has been getting to know the girls and the coaches. It’s been great so far. This is a great group of girls who work hard. I think we have the potential to have a very good season. There is a lot of talent throughout the program. The future looks good for sure.”
Collings, whose father, Kim, was a longtime teacher and coach at Willowbrook, is a graduate of Glenbard North High School, North Central College and has a master’s degree in special education from Northern Illinois.
