By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Athletic Director John Danaher announced late Monday morning that Patrick Touhey has been tabbed to replace long-time Lady Vikings girls' varsity basketball coach Jim Arnold.
Touhey was selected from a field of between 15 to 18 applicants.
From there, three candidates were selected and interviewed with Touhey earning the nod.
"Pat's energy and enthusiasm was a big part in his selection," Danaher said. "But the biggest determining factor was his desire to work with the younger basketball players. We were looking for someone that wanted to spend a great deal of time developing our lower levels, third through eighth grade, and Pat has that plan.
"We know that he will work at further developing the current high school players, but more importantly, was his desire to develop the skills in the younger players. It's a new era in Niles girls' basketball and I am excited about working with Pat and seeing where our program goes from here," he added.
Touhey said that he was extremely humbled by his selection to take over the basketball program at Niles High School.
"I want to thank the committee for entrusting the job to me," he said Monday night. "My family has lived in Niles for the past 13 years, so I understand the tradition. It is an honor just to have this opportunity."
Touhey is from New Jersey, where he coached at the high school level – junior varsity and varsity assistant. He also spent two years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a first assistant at Mount Mercy College.
After getting out of coaching for a few years, he returned to the ranks and has spent the last seven years coaching AAU and the American Youth Basketball Tour, where he coached a lot of the kids who will be on the varsity squad this coming winter.
"I am very close with this senior class," Touhey said. "They are a great group of kids who I have coached every summer since they were in fourth grade."
Touhey said that because of his connection with the program through summer basketball, the transition should not be a difficult one. He also noted that there shouldn't be many changes to the current staff.
Touhey said that George Brawley and Alysse Hoyt will continue in their current positions and that long-time varsity assistant Skip Miller will also return.
"I may include some others at the varsity level, but I haven't spoken with them about it yet," Touhey added.
With the end of the school year rapidly approaching and time to start a summer program at hand, Touhey said that one of his first goals is to get the parents engaged with the program.
"One of the reasons why this program has been so successful, besides the coaching, has been the support from the community and the parents," he said. "I am very excited about next year because all the tools are there. But there are challenges too. I want the community and the kids to know that my commitment to his program will be tireless.
"You have to develop a program. I am a big proponent of fundamentals. We are going to work hard on honing our fundamentals. One of the things I want to make sure we do is get the kids excited about our program. We have to make sure our youth are fundamentally sound.
"There are several ways to do that. You are going to have kids that want to play at a high level of competition, while you will have great athletes, who will be good roll players. Then you will have kids who have potential that blooms later in their careers. You have to have a program for them too," he added.
Niles will be sound defensively and will work to become a good rebounding team.
"I believe that defense wins basketball games," Touhey said. "But you have to be fundamentally sound in the half court game at both ends of the floor. I also think that rebounding will be a key. Girls tend to struggle with boxing out, so we will work hard on getting position and rebounding."
With that kind of work ethic, Touhey expects to continue the grand tradition of Niles girls' basketball.