Neil Miguez always wanted a chance to run his own varsity boys basketball program.
He’s getting that opportunity at Eisenhower.
Miguez, 31, was named Friday the Cardinals new coach, taking over for Mike Curta, who resigned in April.
“This is the job I wanted,” said Miguez, a Reavis graduate. “I love the kids here. I love the atmosphere here, and we proved this year we can be winners.”
Miguez, who coached the Cardinals’ sophomore level for seven seasons, inherits a team that finished 20-8 and won the South Suburban Red championship.
However, the majority of Eisenhower’s top players, including Curta’s son Vinny, will have graduated.
There is, though, a solid nucleus returning, led by Lorenzo Smith, Matthew Beasley, Jovan Boyd and Kenny Scott. Miguez is expecting big contributions from sophomore Aaron Sanders.
“We’re going to lose a lot of talent, but I believe with the kids we have coming back, including some sophomores who will be moving up as juniors, we can compete for the conference championship,” Miguez said.
The biggest change won’t necessarily be the faces on the roster in 2015-16, but the approach the Cardinals employ. Curta ran an up-tempo style patterned after Grinnell College, which encouraged 3-point shots and full-court pressure defense, all the while rotating sets of five players every 45 seconds.
That helped Eisenhower hold state records in 3-point field goals made in a season with 370 in 2010-11 and 3-point field goals made in a game. The Cardinals sank 25 during a rout of Richards on Feb. 17 of this season.
While promising the Cardinals still will play up-tempo basketball, it will be more of a conventional style.
“We’ll still run some parts of the Grinnell system offensively, but for the most part, we’re going in another direction,” Miguez said. “We’re going to still play fast, but not in a way that Curta did.”
Eisenhower athletic director Tim Baker believes Miguez will keep the Cardinals competitive.
“Neil has a knowledge of our kids and he knows basketball,” Baker said. “Our kids really like and respect him. We believe he’ll keep his foot on the gas pedal of what Curta has built.”
Twitter: @disabato
