Illinois College hires Steve Schweer as Blueboys Basketball head coach

By Benjamin Cox on April 25, 2018 at 1:46pm

The Illinois College Blueboys Basketball team will look to continue the rich history of success and determination the team has been known to emulate for the past 60 years.

Illinois College announced on Monday that Steve Schweer has been hired to lead the Blueboys into the upcoming 2018 basketball season and beyond. Schweer was born in Lisle, Illinois, and graduated with a bachelor’s in History from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he played basketball as a key reserve all four years. Schweer will take the helm in place of Mike Worrell, who retired last season after 22 years of leading the Blueboys basketball team.

Mike Snyder is the Director of Athletics at Illinois College. Snyder gives a brief review of Schweer’s career and highlights of his time as an assistant coach around the region.

“Steve brings a winning mentality from multiple successful programs across the region. He’s coming to us from North Central College, and before that he had a stop at Monmouth and at North Park, and he had played collegiately at Illinois Wesleyan where he was a part of some teams that made it to the Final Four and Sweet Sixteen. So he knows what success looks like. He knows the Mid West. He’s been a part of it, and he’s been a part of some outstanding recruiting classes at those different stops that really shows me that he’s gonna be a fantastic leader for us as we move forward with the program.”

Snyder talks about that 60 year legacy that has instilled a steady sense of commitment to success and drive to win for the Blueboys basketball team over the years.

“You know starting with Bill Merris… You know, Coach Merris came in and really was the guy that moved this program forward and did it for a multitude of years. He was here as the head men’s basketball coach and Athletics Director for, I believe, 38 years. And then following him, Coach Mike Worrell came in and put in 22 years here at Illinois College. And I think that we’ve seen some different areas of success throughout both of their times here and it’s been exciting. And they really, what they did is they built a platform here and provided a level of expectation that we now carry forward and look to improve upon even, as I have expectations for us to consistently be at the top of the Mid West Conference.

Snyder is thrilled to see Schweer lead the Blueboys on the court in the upcoming season.

I think that Illinois College is really at a point now where we’re excited to move forward with Coach Schweer at the helm. I think that’s gonna bring some excitement and some intensity to the program and really take us a step forward to where we want to go. I think it’s gonna be an exciting time, and I look forward to seeing the Jacksonville community come together and join us over here at Bruner for the upcoming years to support this team and watch them have the successes that I know they’re gonna be able to have with the leadership that Steve brings to the table.

The Blueboys were 8-17 last season. They did, however, send Coach Mike Worrell off with a 3 game win streak to end his last season. The 2018-19 schedule will be announced soon.