A mainstay in the Galesburg Silver Streaks girls basketball program for 34 years has stepped away from coaching.
Michael Rux resigned as the Streaks girls sophomore basketball coach effective Oct. 29. It was a position he had held since October 1990.
Rux, who said he left for family reasons, coached his entire career at Galesburg under hall of fame coach Evan Massey, who himself coached for 46 years before retiring after the 2023-24 season.
“Mike invested hours and hours over the years in the basketball program,” Massey said. “He loves basketball and was willing to work and learn as much as he could about the sport.
“His sophomore players loved him, and he did a tremendous job building a sense of team in the sophomore team. It was important to him to get the players excited about playing basketball.”
Originally wasn’t interested in coaching girls
Fresh out of college and looking to start a career in coaching, Rux had no interest in girls basketball when an offer came his way 34 years ago. A new fifth grade teacher at Silas Willard Elementary School at the time, Rux initially sought a position in the GHS boys basketball program in the fall of 1990.
“My background at Northern Illinois University was working with the men’s basketball team, and I knew I wanted to coach basketball,” Rux said. “When I arrived in Galesburg, I reached out to the athletic director at the time, Mike Hellenthal, and told him I was interested in coaching boys basketball. There were no openings then, but he knew I was interested.
“In October of 1990, I got a call from Evan asking if I was interested in coaching the sophomore girls. I wasn’t, but I reached out to the men’s basketball coach at NIU, Jim Rosborough, and asked if this is something I wanted to get into. His advice was to ‘coach them as athletes. Coaching is coaching.’ That advice sold me to take the job.”
A 1984 graduate of Kewanee High School, Rux would stay at Silas Willard and with the Streaks for the next 30-plus years. He taught for 33 years at Silas Willard School, 31 years teaching fifth grade, and two years teaching fourth grade. He retired from teaching in 2022.
Rux said teaching elementary school at Silas and the sophomore girls were both “good fits.”
“Coaching at the sophomore level was a good fit for me because it is just coaching,” he said. “There are no outside distractions. No fundraising, no ordering uniforms/equipment, etc.
“My philosophy has been to make connections with your players, coach the heck out of them, play hard, play intelligently, and play together. My ultimate goal was to make them varsity basketball players. Wins and losses were a by-product of that philosophy.”
Despite constantly having players from his sophomore team plucked up to play on the varsity, Rux’s teams had just two losing seasons in his 34 years in the program.
“It is not easy,” Rux said about coaching at the sophomore level. “You have to be creative in how you use the talent that is there. I never wavered from what was successful for us in playing with tempo and applying great pressure defensively, but you have to find ways to help support those competing for us and understand how we as a team can help each other.
“I had only two losing seasons in the 34 years I was there, so I hope I was doing something right.”
‘Show them they are important’
He said there was a sense of pride watching his players excel on the varsity level.
“Absolutely,” Rux said. “When a player who played for you, does something on the court that you know you worked on every day in practice and they do it without thinking, that’s special.”
Rux was a master at team building and getting players excited about playing basketball. It was a philosophy he felt was important from Day 1 of his coaching career.
“When I was at NIU, I learned that it was important to connect with every player on your team,” Rux said. “I talk to every player, every day at practice. ‘How was your school day? How is your family? Who is your math teacher? What class do you like the most/least?’ Everything.
“I am good at making connections. It was the same in the classroom. I talk to kids and show them they are important. Show them they are important, they will work hard for you.
“Combine that with evaluating every player after every game so they can see how they are progressing as a player, what they need to do to improve, and how that connects to our measurable team goals which makes them feel connected to me and the program.”
While Rux can point to many program highlights during his 34 years with the Streaks, he said, “I am very proud that we went to state nine years in a row.
“You have to have new players to fill those spots of the players that graduate and they have to be able to compete at a high level. Being a major part of that player development is a big deal.”
Rux said he had several offers to become a head coach at other schools, “but I wanted it to be at the right place. What we had going in Galesburg was pretty special, making it tough to leave here.”
Rux doesn’t rule out return to coaching
That said, Rux said he never could have imagined staying at Galesburg his entire teaching and coaching career.
“In fact, I remember having a conversation with Molly and Jeremy Kleine after their daughter Kelsi was born and they said, ‘You will be her coach someday.’” Rux said. “I laughed and said, ‘I’ll never make it that long.’
“Sure enough, Molly and Jeremy were right. I was still there.”
Rux doesn’t rule out a return to coaching.
“I would consider it,” he said. “It was an EXTREMELY difficult decision to step aside this year.
“ Like I tell our players, ‘There is always more to give.’”
