--The Post-Tribune
Aug. 25, 2006
You’d be hard-pressed to find a high school head coach in any sport in Northwest Indiana with more integrity than former Valparaiso High School girls basketball coach Greg Kirby.
Even as he was fielding quotes about changing jobs last Thursday — Kirby stepped away from one of the most prestigious coaching jobs in the state to be an assistant at Valparaiso University — he was apologetic about the news being announced on the first day of the prep football season.
Not exactly great timing.
He also sent a verbal apology toward Valpo High for not giving them enough notice, in his humble opinion, before girls basketball season with practice starting in less than two months.
The athletic director who hired him didn’t feel the apology was necessary.
“When you have a quality person like Greg, you’re aware he has some quality opportunities out there,” said Valparaiso A.D. Sam Rasmussen, who has been in charge of Valparaiso athletics since before Kirby was hired in 1990.
“We feel some urgency (to fill the position), but in life you can’t always plan things out. I know he didn’t want it to come this late. But sometimes you have to seize the moment and I encouraged him to do that.”
That moment was changing his daily trip from the west side of the city to the southeast side as a member of Keith Freeman’s staff.
But why would he put aside years of success with the Vikings — 11 sectional titles, eight regionals and four appearances in the IHSAA state finals — to be the second banana in a mid-major college program?
“Being an assistant isn’t that much of an issue to me,” Kirby said. “I want to do my best to help a team play the game as well as they can play it.”
It helped that Freeman will be his immediate boss.
“We’ve had a good relationship for 12 or 13 years,” he said. “I wouldn’t choose to be an assistant under just anybody.”
There are plenty of reasons that Kirby should have stayed at Valpo High. There are plenty of better reasons for Kirby to move to VU.
There’s the economic reasons — not just the salary, though it’s probably substantial. How about his daughter Elise, who attends Valpo High. As a staff member at VU, Kirby would pay substantially less for her tuition, maybe nothing, if he’s still there when her college decision arrives.
Any parent would have that little perk on their mind while making a huge employment decision like Kirby’s.
The 59-year-old will go down as one of the most successful coaches in Northwest Indiana history, boys and girls because he had a pretty good record while coaching the Portage boys.
One or two hall-of-fame inductions have to be in his future with only Crown Point’s Tom May and West Side’s Rod Fisher alongside Kirby in the girls 400-victory club in the region.
So what took so long for a college to request his valuable services? Rasmussen wonders why also.
“He gave great things to our school and community,” he said. “To be honest, I’m surprised more people wouldn’t want his qualities as a coach.”
Contact Steve T. Gorches at 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com
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