It’s the end of an era at Morgan Park High School.
Nick Irvin, one of the most prolific head coaches in Illinois prep basketball history, is leaving for an assistant coaching position at Western Illinois University. The career change comes less than a week after Irvin was named 2020 IBCA Coach of the Year.
Irvin’s tenure at Morgan Park is one for the history books. The Mustangs compiled a record of 301-70 over Irvin’s 12 seasons as head coach, winning at least 20 games in each season. Irvin led Morgan Park to back-to-back IHSA Class 3A state championships in 2013-2014, and then another set of back-to-back titles in 2017-2018. The Mustangs also rattled off 10 straight regional crowns during that time and appeared in four Public League title games, winning the CPS championship in 2010.
The list of players mentored by Irvin at Morgan Park is long and impressive: Billy Garrett, Wayne Blackshear, Charlie Moore, Ayo Dosunmu, Cam Burrell, Adam Miller and Marcus Watson, just to name a few.
Next season will be a reunion of sorts for Irvin, as Burrell also joins the Leathernecks after transferring in from Eastern Illinois.
Before Irvin took over at Morgan Park, the Mustangs had just one state title in school history, thanks to Laird Smith’s “shot heard round the state” in 1976. In a dozen seasons Irvin helped turn the one-time champs into a hoops powerhouse. As he moves from the Red South to the Summit League, he leaves a legacy at 111th and Vincennes few coaches could ever match.