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Rock Island High School Basketball

April 27, 2001 1:18 AM
Marc Nesseler, Dispatch/Argus Sports editor

ROCK FALLS -- Making the transition from a Rocket to a Rock, Thom Sigel will be going from one of the top Class A boys' basketball teams to one of the elite Class AA programs in Illinois today.

Sigel, 34, will be introduced at a 10 a.m. press conference today as the new boys' basketball head coach at Rock Island High School. For the last six years, he's been the head coach at Rock Falls High School, compiling a 127-52 record, including a 31-3 Class A state championship season in 1998-99.

Sigel will be joined at the press conference at the high school by the three-person selection committee of superintendent Dr. Dave Markward, principal Dr. Dawn Snyder and athletic director Bob Swanson.

None from the selection committee would divulge any information about today's announcement on Thursday night. However, Sigel confirmed his appointment face-to-face after a 20-minute meeting with his Rock Falls team that he had scheduled in the Rockets' gymnasium for 8:30 Thursday night.

``If you want confirmation, you've got it. But that's all I've got to say until (the press conference),'' said Sigel, who attributed his lack of conversation to being emotionally distraught over the meeting with his players. His eyes were reddened.

Sigel emerged from a field of over 70 applicants -- and three finalists -- for the job that came open in February when 21-year Rocky coach Duncan Reid resigned effective the end of an 11-16 season. Reid elected to step down from a 29-year Illinois coaching career with a 643-199 record.

One of the other finalists to replace Reid was Bill Harris of West Des Moines Valley. The name of the other would only be disclosed if he was the one getting the Rocky job. Not among the final three were Rock Island assistant coach Mike Reid -- Duncan's son -- and former Rock Island assistant coach Mike Brown.

Though Sigel would not talk -- ``I'm not ready; I came here to talk to the players,'' he said -- his Rock Falls assistants and players did.

``Our loss is your gain,'' said Dave Peugh, Sigel's varsity assistant with the Rockets. ``It's no question Rock Island is one of the elite jobs in the state. But so, too, is this one here. That's why it's so tough.''

Jorge Acosta, a Rock Falls senior standout who played on the Rockets' state title team, said Rock Island was a job Sigel couldn't refuse.

``If I put myself in his shoes, I'd do the same thing,'' said Acosta, whose sister, Ivette, is a senior basketball player at Augustana College. ``It's a top-notch program that gives you a chance to get to state every year. I know that is what `Coach' has always wanted.

``He had always said that if an opportunity like that came up, he would consider it. I knew he put a lot of thought into it. It was a tough decision.''

Sigel is no stranger to the Western Big 6. He was the sophomore coach at Galesburg High School for six years prior to taking the Rock Falls job. The Rockets also have been an annual hurdle for the Alleman Pioneers in the Class A postseason road.

A position within the Rock Island-Milan School District also awaits Sigel. He is a guidance counselor, and there will be three guidance-counselor positions open for the 2001-02 school year.

Sigel will inherit a Rock Island program that could rocket back to prominence quickly. The Rocks lose only two reserve seniors, Andre Ford and Calvin Hayes, and had this past season, for the first-time ever, four freshmen on their varsity roster.

Staff writers Jeff Wendland Gerry Verstraete contributed to this report.

Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.