Rich Beyers is no stranger to success.
When he was playing high school basketball at Shelbyville, he earned all-state and player of the year honors, scored 1,980 points and was part of a state championship team.
In college, Beyers helped the University of Illinois win a Big Ten championship and qualify for the NCAA tournament. He also led Illinois State to a berth in the NIT Tournament.
Now, Beyers is looking for success as coach for the Father McGivney boys basketball program. The Griffins are playing in their second varsity season and have tripled their win total of two from last year.
“We’re in a building process,” Beyers said. “We have more wins than we had all of last year, so we’re happy with that. Our games are getting tighter and now we graduate a lot of our scoring. We’re senior-dominated, so we’re looking for some of our young guys to really step up and show some growth over the course of the season this year. Hopefully, next year, they’ll be able to step right in and fill some big shoes.”
Beyers was hired as the coach of the Father McGivney program four years ago after coaching the St. Boniface eighth-grade boys basketball team for two years.
Senior Dan Jones first met Beyers when he joined the Father McGivney program during his freshman year.
“Going into my freshman year during the summer and going to shootarounds, literally I had no idea he played college ball,” Jones said. “I didn’t know he was an all-state athlete ... I was coming in thinking that he was a new coach to me. I gave myself to him. I’ve improved tremendously and it’s all on him.”
Jones, Alex Loeffler, Logan Shumate, and Matt Taphorn make up the Griffins’ senior class. All of them have played under Beyers since they were freshmen.
“It’s exciting that I’ve completed all four years of playing basketball under coach Beyers because not a whole lot of kids can say that,” Jones said. “It’s hard to play under him and you want to hop on board of what he’s got.”
Jones credits Beyers for his strong offense. He’s been the Griffins’ top three-point shooter since his junior year. He hit 38 treys last year and has 30 this winter.
“He’s a great mentor to me,” Jones said.
Beyers graduated from Shelbyville in 1997. He helped the Rams win a state championship and was selected Class A player of the year in his junior season. He earned all-state honors in his junior and senior seasons.
Beyers was a member of the Big Ten championship team in his freshman year at Illinois. He transferred to Illinois State University during his sophomore year.
Beyers, who works as a vice president and loan officer at Small Business Growth Corp., said his experience playing high school and college basketball has helped him improve as a coach.
“It helped me a lot, but it made me have a little less patience than a coach who maybe hasn’t had that experience,” the Father McGivney coach said. “I expect a lot out of them because I know what it takes to get to that level and it doesn’t happen by showing up at open gyms only. I know the extra work they have to put in and sometimes it’s frustrating that everybody doesn’t want to work like that. So it’s been a little bit of a learning curve for me and I’m understanding that not everybody wants to go play college basketball. I’m like, ‘Why not?’”
Father McGivney entered this week with a 6-14 record. The Griffins began their season with a win over Ramsey in the Mulberry Grove Tournament. A year ago, they beat Ramsey twice for their only wins of the season.
The Glen Carbon school also had a pair of wins over Patoka plus victories over Griggsville-Perry, Brussels and Vandalia.
“This year is better than last,” Beyers said. “I’m improving as a coach I feel as well. I’m learning something everyday and I’m trying to reach out to my contacts and get advice as well and hopefully that will spill over into some good things down the road so we can build a nice program here at McGivney.”
The Griffins have games against Valmeyer, Freeburg, Bunker Hill, Nokomis, Brussels, Ramsey, and Barat Academy left on their schedule.
“It’s going to be tough to get back to where we wanted to be,” Beyers said. “We were hoping to get a .500 season this year. We have to pretty much run the table to do that now. It’s going to be tough, but the boys are willing to work. If they’re willing to work, they’ll be in good shape. As long as you don’t lose your team, and I don’t think we lost them by any means, you’re doing something right.”
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