ROCHELLE — Rochelle Township High School has hired Ryan McQuade to be the next Lady Hub varsity basketball coach. McQuade has spent the last seven seasons with the Aurora Christian boys basketball team, coaching the freshmen for two years before spending five years with the sophomores. McQuade replaces Tony Rowan, who resigned after eight years at RTHS.

“My lifelong dream has been to have my own program and I’m really thankful to have the opportunity to do this,” McQuade said. “I’m ready to get to work and I’m really excited to meet all of the girls. I’ve been playing basketball for my whole life and I come from a long background of coaches… We’ve been very successful over the last several years and I’m looking forward to hopefully bringing that success over to the Rochelle basketball program.”

McQuade, who attended Aurora Christian High School and played both football and basketball, received his first coaching opportunity in 2014, when he became an assistant coach under his father, Bob McQuade. The 26-year-old McQuade, whose uncles include former NFL player Don Beebe as well as Dan and Dave Beebe, has been involved in sports for nearly his whole life. He said the relationships he’s built with student-athletes are what he enjoys most about coaching.

“I’ve loved the opportunities I’ve had to breed success over the last several years,” McQuade said. “I decided to bring what I know and my passion for the game to Rochelle and I want to build a successful program… We want to be a defense-first program and we want to be a disciplined basketball team. We also want to have fun because there’s no reason to be on the floor if we aren’t having fun. I think the kids and I are going to enjoy working with each other.”

McQuade will inherit a Lady Hub varsity basketball team that finished 3-10 overall this past season. Rochelle has not won over 10 games in a season since compiling a 12-17 record during the 2017-18 campaign. The Lady Hubs will have many players eligible to return including a talented junior class that features Zoey Tabor, Josie Lundquist, Lucy Bunger and Abby Luxton.

“What I’m looking for from these girls is tenacity and I want them to fight every time they’re on the floor,” McQuade said. “We’re going to hang our hats on the defensive side of the floor and with that comes discipline.”