One week Bill Silvey was told that he would not be brought back as the Park Tudor High School girls basketball coach. The next, he was moving three miles south to take over a Bishop Chatard program that reached the Class 3A state championship game last season. Silvey took a few moments to talk about the emotional month and his deep ties to Bishop Chatard:
Question: How did the timing work out to allow you to move from one job to the other?
Answer: (At the end of June,) I was told that Park Tudor was going in a different direction and wanted to make a change. Bishop Chatard was taking resumes through the end of June, and I turned my application in on the last day. I went through an extensive interview process (and was offered the job).
Q: What was the experience like emotionally?
A: It was tough. No one wants to hear you're not wanted. It was very surprising and very disappointing. But I've had tougher situations than that. I relied on my faith. I knew I did a good job for the kids and school. If (I thought I'd) done a marginal job, I would have thought, 'I should have done this or that,' but I did my best and got as much as I could from the team (so) I could take anything.
I count myself fortunate to coach at Chatard. I have a lot of fond memories (of the school), and I owe a lot to it for what it did for my daughters. There's a lot of great families there, and I'm looking forward to getting back (with them). It was hard to coach against Chatard when I was at Park Tudor. It'll be very nice being at Chatard.
Q: How difficult is it to replace Kevin Sweeney, who led the program to its first sectional title in 2006, reached the state championship game last season and was 75-22 overall?
A: I've got big shoes to fill. The commitment level is outstanding by all the kids, and I'm excited by that. There's a lot of work to be done. We lost six seniors, and all six were big contributors in practice or games. It's going to be a big challenge, but our job is to get the kids prepared.
Q: What are the expectations for next season with the losses to graduation?
A: I wouldn't say we're young, but we don't have much game experience. We'll work on week-by-week improvement. No one is looking that far ahead. The kids are probably wondering what I'm all about. I'm looking forward to molding a team. Whether you graduate six or none, it's a different year and teams take on different personality.