Jim Sexton is ready for his next rebuilding job.
After leading successful turnarounds at St. Laurence and Evergreen Park, Sexton has been hired as head boys basketball coach at St. Rita.
The Mustangs won six IHSA regionals between 2014-23 under Gary DeCesare and Roshawn Russell. But they fell on hard times when Russell left and a number of talented players left via transfers.
They were 8-51 over the past two seasons under Ross Burt and twice went winless in the Catholic League Blue.
When the job opened up, Sexton said some St. Rita alumni reached out to him about applying.
That also happened before, but the timing wasn’t right.
“They had approached me a couple years ago as well,” Sexton said. “That was going to be (my son) Nolan’s senior year.”
Sexton wasn’t going to walk away from the chance to coach his son for one final season. He wound up spending five seasons at Evergreen Park with a 75-63 record and winning a regional in 2023 — the Mustangs’ first since 1974.
“Evergreen Park was great,” Sexton said. “It was cool to coach my son. It was a great group of kids we had. It was the right timing (to be there).”
Before that, Sexton spent three seasons at St. Laurence and was 62-34 with two regional titles and the program’s first back-to-back 20-win seasons since the 1970s.
“I’m definitely energized to get back into the Catholic League,” Sexton said.
The Brother Rice graduate believes the pieces are in place for St. Rita to be successful again, citing “the facilities, the tradition, the academics.
“It’s a tight-knit culture.”
Sexton has started the process of getting acquainted with his new players and putting together a staff.
He’s not ready yet to put a number on what improvement will look like.
But, he said, “I always have high expectations no matter what.”
And he has some general benchmarks no matter where he’s coached: “Win 20 games, win a regional, continue to get better.”