THE GIRLS’ TURN TO TRY
Veteran coach Curta has a new crew at Eisenhower ready to raise its profile using the Grinnell System
“Have résumé, will travel” might as well be Mike Curta’s motto.
Almost 30 years into a basketball coaching career that has taken him to five high schools and one college, Curta is ready to begin one of his more intriguing challenges. And maybe to settle down, too.
“Now my role model is Larry Brown,” Curta
“THESE ARE HIGH SCHOOL KIDS. [ FOR MOST OF THEM], THIS IS IT PLAYING COMPETITIVE BASKETBALL. I WANT OUR KIDS TO FEEL PROUD OF THE WAY WE PLAY, THE THINGS THEY CAN TALK ABOUT, THE MEMORIES THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE, BEING UNIQUE.”
MIKE CURTA, Eisenhower girls coach
said. “Hopefully this is the last one.”
“This” is his first girls program, at Eisenhower, where he’s a teacher and previously had a successful seven- year run as the boys coach.
It was during that earlier stint in Blue Island that Curta had a coaching epiphany. He started running the Grinnell System, a frenetic, high- scoring style that features hockey- style 5- on- 5 lineup substitutions, nonstop pressure and nothing but three- pointers and layups on offense.
“I have a different perspective now,” Curta said. “It took awhile. I wish I had the perspective when I was young and stupid and in my 20s.”
What Curta believes now is that it’s not about him but his players.
“These are high school kids,” he said. “[ For most of them], this is it playing competitive basketball. I want our kids to feel proud of the way we play, the things they can talk about, the memories they are going to have, being unique.”
Eisenhower girls basketball has such a low profile, it’s not even listed on the school’s IHSA season summaries page. That’s already changing, according to Cardinals athletic director Colleen Kelly.
“There has been a little buzz,” she said. “I’m hopeful Coach Curta can help grow our girls program.”
That’s also Curta’s hope as he figures out how to adapt the System to the girls game and his personnel.
The Cardinals got in five contact days before worsening coronavirus numbers shut down all high school sports, and that helped Curta get to know his players — and to understand the magnitude of the task he has undertaken.
The System remains an outlier in organized basketball, with its greatest popularity at the men’s and women’s smallcollege level. Olivet Nazarene’s women have set 18 NAIA records and led the nation in scoring 13 of the last 15 seasons. But Greenville’s men are 0- 4 this season, all against Division I teams on the road, averaging 99 points a game — and giving up 165.
On the prep level in Illinois, Eisenhower will be at least the third girls team to run the System, joining Fenton and Macomb.
Fenton coach Dave Mello is glad to have a kindred spirit in Curta and already has reached out to schedule a game with the Cardinals. He predicts a high satisfaction level for Curta and his players.
“The girls love playing [ the System],” said Mello, who has been running it for three seasons. “What’s better than being on a team where you know you’re going to play?”
Conventional wisdom is what has kept the system from being more widely embraced, Mello believes.
“A lot of coaches love to take control — I get that,” he said. “[ But] I’ve never had more fun.”
The chance to gain attention for doing something different is a perk of the System. Eisenhower holds the IHSA boys record for threepointers in a game ( 25) and the national record for three- point tries in a season ( 1,411). Fenton’s girls have the national mark for threepoint attempts in a season ( 1,767).
“I’ve caught heat from outsiders,” Mello said. “‘ How about you try for the makes [ record]?’ Believe me, we are.”
Said Curta: “You know there’s some that are going to come just to watch the train wreck. Some come to watch a successful game.”
And maybe they’ll even get to see history.
“We’re going to show them the record book,” Curta said. “We want to break records.”
And have fun while doing it.