Sussex goes with Machut as coach
He led King girls to nine City basketball crowns
The longest-tenured coach in the City Conference is heading west.
Craig Machut, who spent the past 12 seasons as the girls basketball coach at Milwaukee King, has been hired as the head coach at Sussex Hamilton.
The move fills one of the area’s most attractive head coach openings while creating another job that is sure to generate a lot of interest.
Family was a driving factor for Ma
chut.
“We live in the Sussex area and just getting a little closer to home was the main drive,” Machut said. “I have three daughters. They're all three very young and (I'm) trying to invest a little more in this area.”
The move ends Machut's 15-year run with King basketball. Before his stretch as the girls head coach he spent three seasons as an assistant boys coach to Jim Gosz. At Hamilton, Machut will work under Gosz's brother, Mike, Hamilton's long-time athletic director.
Machut, who teaches science, will continue to teach at King.
“I'll still see them at school. I'll still be there for them,” he said of the basketball players. “I still want to be part of their social and emotional development, but it just seemed like an opportunity to take.”
Machut replaces Bill Scasny, who led the Chargers for seven seasons. Machut is familiar with the program because King played Hamilton regularly in nonconference play over the years. This past season King and Hamilton played twice with King winning both games and eliminating the Chargers in a Division 1 regional final.
Machut will take over a program that has been a perennial top-tier team in the Greater Metro Conference. The Chargers went 17-7 this season and took third in the GMC with a veteran team that graduated three of its top four scorers.
“It's a district that is growing,” Machut said. “It's a school that really values its student success and its athletic success. I've been real impressed with the parent support, the community support, the school support of the area. In a district like this that is growing, it seems like there is a new neighborhood every couple of weeks out this way.”
Machut went 223-63 (.780) at King, including a 126-10 (.926) mark in the City Conference Gold Division. The Generals won nine division titles during that run, including at least a share of the last seven championships.
King reached the state tournament three times under Machut, finishing second in Division 1 in 2009 and 2012.
King fell to Milwaukee Vincent, 48-47, in '09 and to Middleton, 60-57, in '12.
He was the Journal Sentinel's area coach of the year in 2012.
“I think we really spent a lot of time and effort trying to make being a Lady General something special both on the court and off the court,” he said. “I think the culture of our program was one of effort and pride.”
Machut interviewed for the Hamilton job last Thursday and was offered the position Friday.
He leaves a team that must replace its top four scorers.
“Our girls always fought,” he said. “The thing to take away was the fight our girls displayed. We never quit. We never gave up. I never felt like we were out of a game.”