Coaching basketball has enabled Rochelle Township High School graduate Scott Stevens to share the emotions he felt and the skills he learned as a student-athlete with a new generation of up-and-coming players. The experiences and relationships Stevens has cultivated through basketball date all the way back to when he first signed up for the RYBA as a child.

Stevens played varsity basketball at RTHS for two years, graduating in 2012 before beginning a coaching career as an assistant at Ashton-Franklin Center in 2015. Under the tutelage of former A-FC and RTHS head coach Russ Zick, Stevens became the varsity head coach of the Raiders in 2018 and led the program for two seasons before stepping down earlier this year.

Stevens will begin the next chapter of his coaching career at his alma mater, with RTHS and head coach Tim Thompson bringing him aboard as a volunteer assistant for the 2020-21 season. Stevens will replace RTHS graduate Riley Lodico, who will serve as student manager of the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team this winter, on the Hub coaching staff.

“What I enjoyed most about playing basketball at RTHS was the camaraderie between teammates and the cohesion between the coaching staff and the players,” Stevens said. “I learned how to be a part of something bigger than myself. As a player, I saw genuine friendship between coach Thompson and coach Zick. It will bring me peace of mind transitioning to a place where the current coach has been someone I’ve trusted consistently since I was in high school.”

Stevens was a senior when Thompson took over as head coach of the Hubs in 2011. Stevens has volunteered to help run RTHS summer camps in the past, and he’s also spent the last year or so working at the Focus House, where Thompson and his varsity team occasionally hold practices.   Stevens said that his experience as an RTHS student-athlete, as well as his recent coaching experience at A-FC, will help him relate to current players and form new lasting relationships.

“I have worked at the Focus House since the summer of 2019 and I wanted coach Thompson to know that I was there to help with anything the program needed,” Stevens said. “Coaching at A-FC will be something I always miss. There are bonds and experiences I won’t forget and there are many underclassmen who I will be proud to watch grow and be successful throughout their lives. Creating those kinds of relationships here at RTHS is what keeps me ambitious every day.”