New Beard won’t have to grow on Streaks

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Woodstock’s softball players will be able to address their new coach in the same manner as the previous one.

This season when the players ask for “Coach Beard,” it will be for former assistant coach Steve, not Lisa, his wife and the Blue Streaks’ former head coach.

Lisa Beard resigned as coach last month, and Steve was promoted by Woodstock athletic director Glen Wilson, who announced the move Tuesday.

“You could say we flipped a coin and Lisa lost,” Steve said, jokingly.

Lisa, a standout pitcher in the mid-1990s for the Streaks, has been a coach in the program since 2002. She assisted Rob Mecklenburg and Steve Ryan, then took over as head coach three years ago. Steve was her assistant for those three years.

The Beards’ 16-month-old son Max figured heavily into the decision. Steve said that now that Max is more mobile, they did not feel they both could continue coaching together.

“It was a hard decision for us,” he said. “It’s too hard to put Max in day care from 7 in the morning to 7 at night [on softball practice and game days]. It’s hard for both of us to be coaching, and Lisa has a higher workload in English than I do with P.E.”

Beard graduated in 1992 from Woodstock, where he was a three-sport star. He was the Northwest Herald Male Athlete of the Year and the Northwest Herald Football Player of the Year. He was drafted out of high school by Montreal in Baseball’s Amateur Draft, but he chose to play football and baseball at Northern Iowa.

After graduating from Northern Iowa, Beard returned to Woodstock as a physical education teacher and assistant coach. He took over as head football coach in 2003 and has a 41-33 record in seven seasons.

The Blue Streaks were 9-4 last season and advanced to the IHSA Class 5A playoff semifinals, where they lost to Montini.

“I’ve enjoyed softball a lot the last three years,” Beard said. “The competitiveness of girls is no different than the boys. Girls want to win just as badly as the boys do. I saw that at UNI when I worked some girls basketball camps. I was shocked at how competitive they were.”

Beard said he spoke with former Woodstock coaches Jim Patton, who was head coach in wrestling and softball, and Ed Brucker, who was head coach in football, girls basketball and baseball, about becoming the head softball coach.

Naturally, he can look for advice right in his own house.

“Lisa will be involved,” he said. “She’s going to work with the pitchers as much as she can. She’ll be second-guessing everything I do.”

Showdown time: Jacobs’ boys basketball team will play in the High School Hoops Showdown for the third consecutive year.The Golden Eagles will meet Glenbard East at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

The event will be a tripleheader. In the 6:30 game, Aurora Central Catholic and Marmion will meet in a Suburban Christian Conference crossover game. At 8:30, Neuqua Valley will play West Aurora.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-526-4513. He also can be reached by fax at 815-459-5640 or by e-mail at jstevenson@
nwherald.com.