UEC: January 2009 Archives

Waubonsie Valley quarterback Tyler Castro, who was looking at Cornell, probably will not join Nick Mlady in the Ivy League. Castro has visits scheduled for next week at Drake and Eastern Illinois, the two front-runners in his recruitment.

"I know the signing date's coming up and all that but I'm not exactly sure when I'm planning (to decide). Hopefully as soon as possible," Castro said. "I'd like to get it out of the way (but) I don't want to rush it. I don't want to make a mistake."

Paul Johnson has a nice feature up on Ted Monken, Metea Valley's new coach. In five seasons at St. Charles East, Monken has gone 36-17 (.679) with four consecutive playoff appearances. Coaching runs in the Monken family, as Johnson explains:

His father, Bob, is a member of the Illinois High School Coaches Hall of Fame, thanks in large part to his legendary coaching run at Lake Park. He has also been on Ted Monken's staff at St. Charles East all five years.

If that's not enough, Ted's brother, Todd, is the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And his brother, Tony, also has experience starting a program from scratch. He guided Vernon Hills' ascent to varsity football in 1999 and has coached that program ever since.

This nugget is also found near the end of the piece and at the center of what should become a good rivalry:

Monken arrives at Metea familiar with the Upstate Eight Conference, and quite familiar with Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, the pool from which Metea's talent will be drawn.

Monken went only 1-4 against Neuqua in his five years, two of those losses giving Neuqua an outright conference title and rendering St. Charles East to second place. He did go 3-0 against Waubonsie, however, including wins the past two seasons.

Northwestern offensive line coach Bret Ingalls will jump to the NFL and work for Naperville native Sean Payton in New Orleans. The Saints will get an assistant who apparently had some good connections in the Chicago suburbs.

ESPN.com Big Ten writer Adam Rittenberg reports in his blog:

(Ingalls) coached the Big Ten's youngest line this season and got decent results, as Northwestern tied for second in the league in fewest sacks allowed (22) and went 9-4. Ingalls' biggest contributions have come as a recruiter, as he helped land top line prospects like Brian Mulroe (Loyola), Nick Adamle (Wheaton North) and Jeff Radek (Neuqua Valley) last February.

Payton and Ingalls worked together at San Diego State in the late-1980s and early-1990s, helping develop a running back named Marshall Faulk.

On the news-side today, Tim Waldorf provides a good update on Metea Valley High School, which is progressing in advance of an August target date for the first classes of freshmen and sophomores to arrive. Principal Jim Schmid would tell you that athletics is a piece of a very large puzzle, and several major coaching hires have already been made.

Football coach Ted Monken, an external hire from St. Charles East, is reportedly pending school board approval on Monday. Schmid tells Waldorf that all but three or four coaching positions have been filled. Waldorf also reports that while the Aurora building is starting to look like an actual school, some teams may have to be patient. Waldorf writes:

(P)ortions of the school -- the other two-story classroom wing, as well as music and fine arts facilities, an auxiliary gymnasium and the pool -- won't be complete until about a year from now. And some athletic fields may not be ready for teams to practice or play on them on Day 1.

Two of Waubonsie Valley's most valuable players remain uncommitted, according to Warriors coach Paul Murphy. Three-year starting quarterback Tyler Castro - who threw for more than 2,000 yards as a senior - is being looked at by Cornell, Drake and Butler. Sherrod Stancil - a defensive lineman who drew constant double-teams and is considered by Murphy to be a Division I talent - is being recruited by Grand Valley State, among others.