Brown: ‘It’s an honor to coach at Sterling'

Former Annawan High School basketball coach Ryan Brown talks about being the new head coach of Sterling following Wednesday’s board meeting. (Shaw News Service photo/Chris Padgett)

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STERLING – After high school, Ryan Brown gave up playing basketball to work 12-hour shifts at a rubber factory.

It didn’t take long for Brown to get back in the game. When he was 20, he earned his first job as an assistant coach. On Wednesday, the 29-year-old officially became Sterling High School’s 15th boys basketball coach.

“It’s an honor,” said Brown, who will teach physical education. “It was an honor to even get an interview at a place like this. There’s so much tradition, and the program’s had so much success the past few years, I was thrilled just to get a foot in the door.”

Brown coached at Annawan the past four years, and led the Braves to fourth place in Class 1A in 2009. Sterling hired him from a pool of 35 applicants, eight who were interviewed to replace Peter Goff, who became Bloomington’s head coach on May 14.

“It became clear before the interviews even started that he’d be someone we’d consider strongly,” Sterling activities director Nathan DeLany said. “We wanted someone who has a passion for education and a passion for basketball. I know that’s what we have with Ryan.”

Brown’s best teams at Annawan featured star players Alex Coppejans and Tanner Carlson, as well as a fast-paced, player-friendly style. Brown will instill the same philosophy at Sterling that he did at the 119-student school – which in March became the smallest to reach the state basketball tournament since 94-student Williamsville in 1997.

“My teams are always in attack mode,” said Brown, who has an 8-year old daughter, Maddy, with his wife Lacey. “Offensively, defensively, whatever we do is trying to keep our opponents on their heels and trying to impose our will as much as possible.”

Brown was 79-44 at Annawan, including a 27-8 mark in 2008-09, when he was named the Quad City Times’ coach of the year. Before that, he was 17-36 in two years at Scotland County, Mo., after a three-year stint as an assistant at Roseville.

He takes over a program that has won consecutive NCIC Reagan championships, going 19-1 in conference play the past two years behind a strong class of 2009 that included Joseph Bertrand, an incoming freshman at Illinois.

“There’s a number of reasons this job is so appealing,” Brown said. “This is by no means a rebuilding project. Coach Goff did a great job here, and hopefully I can step in, put my own twists on it, and be as successful as possible.”

Brown will join Sterling’s summer program in progress. As of Wednesday’s school board meeting, he had met with Golden Warriors sophomore coach Jim Preston, but not varsity assistants Jeff Neubauer, Dave Peugh or Jim DuBois.

DeLany did not say if any of Sterling’s assistants applied for the head job.

Brown has coached several local players with the Illinois Magic AAU program, including former Sterling players Josh Feldthouse and Niko Rivera. Brown said he is decreasing his involvement with the program this summer to focus on his new job.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but that’s what I want,” Brown said. “I want the kids to enjoy working hard. More often than not, when you work hard, the breaks are going to go your way. That’s the mentality I’ve always had.”