Ron Oloffson relishes a challenge, no matter how old he is.
He was a coach, teacher, administrator and principal at Herscher.
The 71-year-old retired from education, but is in his fifth year as the Peotone boys basketball coach and he still loves it.
“The funnest part about coaching – and I’ve said this many times – is the challenge,” he said. “It’s the challenge of bringing a team together and being the very best they can be.
“And it’s the challenge of fixing things when they aren’t going like you want. That’s what makes coaching fun. It is a challenge. If it was easy, everybody would do it all the time.”
Interestingly, the IHSA does not list him among leaders in wins. But heading into this season, the organization had him for 23 wins with Tonica from 1979-81, 59 for Byron from 1981-86, 416 with Herscher from 1986-2009 and 78 more in a second stint with the Tigers from 2015-2021. Add 50 more wins in his first four years with the Blue Devils, and Oloffson has 632 heading into this season.
The Blue Devils started 4-4, including a 52-41 win over Manteno on Dec. 9 (avenging a 52-43 setback to the Panthers on Nov. 28) and a 65-52 win over Reed-Custer on Dec. 12.
Peotone finished 16-14 under Oloffson’s watch last season and they are hoping to put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since a streak of four winning seasons from 2013-17.
“I believe we are getting better, and we want to play our best basketball at the end of the year,” Oloffson said. “And we are on track to do that.”
The veteran coach is leaning hard on Alex Chenoweth, a 6-foot junior guard, as a do-it-all player on both offense and defense.
“He can make everyone else on the team better,” Oloffson said. “It’s his third year of starting for the varsity and he brings a lot to the table. It all starts with him.”
Ethan McNeill, a junior forward, has scoring potential. Tyler Walker, a junior forward, has heated up behind the 3-point line. Junior guard Nick Cronin has also been dangerous at times.
That also could bode well for next season, as the key contributors are juniors.
Oloffson got his first taste of coaching in 1975 when he was a junior varsity coach at LaHarpe.
He has plans on sticking around for a while.
“I’m 71 but I’m too young to do nothing,” he said. “That’s kind of my mantra. As long as I enjoy the challenge, I’ll keep doing it.”
Panthers state their case
Manteno Middle School’s eighth-grade girls basketball team qualified for the Illinois Elementary School Association state finals in Class 3A.
The Panthers (21-4) were scheduled to take on Springfield Lincoln (15-0) in the quarterfinals on Dec. 15 at Germantown Hills Middle School. The semifinals were scheduled for Dec. 17 with the championship on Dec. 18.
The Panthers beat Paxton-Buckley-Loda 34-10 to win the sectional title Dec. 10 at Prairie Central Junior High.
This is the Panthers’ first trip to state since 2022, when the eighth-graders took fourth in the state in Class 3A.