Bailey Begins 32nd Season at St. Patrick

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

Mike Bailey is a self-described gym rat at 71 years old who loves the game of basketball. He is addicted to watching basketball games and practices. Bailey also enjoys everything that takes place off the court, like recruiting and game planning and summer basketball. Most of all, he loves teaching the game to his players during practice sessions. And he has no intention of doing anything else.

“I am not retiring at the end of the season,” Bailey said, putting an end to rumors to the contrary. “I’m just getting started.”

“Mike Bailey has all the qualities that you are looking for in a head coach,” said former Weber and Elgin basketball coach Jim Harrington, who had Bailey on his staff at both schools. “He is hard working, loyal and dedicated. Whether Mike is young or old, he is always trying to get better as a head coach.”

Bailey, who began his hjgh school coaching career with Harrington at Weber in 1979, will begin his 32nd year as head coach at St. Patrick in the Shamrocks’ annual Thanksgiving tournament. He has won 583 games at the school on West Belmont and one of his goals is to surpass the record of 658 victories established by his predecessor, the legendary Max Kurland.

“I just keep going,” said Bailey, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery. “As long as I have energy, enthusiasm and health, I will keep coaching. I don’t think I would have retired if I had won a state championship last year. A lot of people ask me that question. Honestly, if we had won, I wanted to come back and coach this group of kids because I had promised them and their parents that I would be their coach. I think that I am a better and more prepared basketball coach now at this stage of my life.”

Last season, Bailey guided St. Patrick to 29 victories and third place in the Class 3A tournament. The Shamrocks lost to Brother Rice in the semifinals, then came back to rout Chatham Glenwood for third place.

“It was probably the most proud I have ever been of any team I have coached, to come back and win third place after losing 24 hours earlier,” he said.

Twelve players return from that 29-8 squad, including starter RJ McPartlin. The Shamrocks will begin their quest for a return trip to Champaign on Monday, November 24, against Chicago Public League power Dyett, the defending Class 2A champion.

“This team knows how to win basketball games,” Bailey said. “It expects to win. They are very motivated to get back Downstate.”

The road back to Champaign won’t be easy. It became more difficult when the Illinois High School Association placed St. Patrick in Class 4A with defending champion Benet and neighborhood rival DePaul Prep, last year’s Class 3A champion, which also has been moved up into Class 4A tournament. St. Patrick might have to beat both schools to reach the championship game.

Meanwhile, Bailey has been proud to follow in Kurland’s footsteps. Kurland built the Shamrocks into one of the state’s most successful programs at St. Patrick playing his signature 1-3-1 zone defense. St Pat's always fell short in conference play, finishing second to coach Gene Pingatore’s St. Joseph teams. The one thing that Kurland couldn’t do was advance to the state quarterfinals and gain ticket play to at Assembly Hall in Champaign. Kurland retired in 1994 after losing to Lyons Township in the York sectional championship.

“It was an honor to be chosen to replace Max Kurland at St. Patrick,” Bailey said. “Max was very nice to me when I came to St. Patrick. I didn’t replace him. I followed him.”

Bailey has a different philosophy playing strictly man-to-man defense.

“Max Kurland was one of the greatest guys in the coaching profession. He had a heart of gold,” Harrington said.

Bailey, a graduate of Gordon and DePaul University, joined Weber in 1979 as Harrington’s sophomore coach. He was head coach at St. Gregory in 1984-1986, then head coach at Dundee-Crown in 1986-1990. Then he went to Elgin to assist Harrington in 1990-94. In 1992, when Steve Pappas left Gordon to become head coach at Deerfield, Bailey applied for the job.  Rich Kolimas was hired to replace Pappas. When Kurland retired in 1994, he brought his expertise to St. Patrick.

After losing four times in the supersectional round before finishing third in the Class 3A tournament last season, marking the first time that the Shamrocks have qualified for the Final Four. The achievement isn’t lost on Bailey or his staff. Why retire when you still have goals to accomplish?

“It means the world to advance to the state finals for the first time in school history,” he said.

Basketball is a family affair in the Bailey household. Mike’s daughter Kelly is the official scorer for the Chicago Bulls while son Brandon is an assistant coach for DePaul’s men’s basketball team after spending time with the Boston Celtics in the NBA.

After the upcoming Thanksgiving tournament, St. Patrick will open its regular conference season in a televised matchup against Notre Dame of Niles. This is the last season of the ESCC in basketball. The Chicago Catholic League has merged with the East Suburban Catholic. Next season, St. Patrick will join Marist, Benet, DePaul Prep, St. Ignatius, Mount Carmel, Loyola, Brother Rice and Fenwick in a new and very competitive conference featuring three divisions.

Mike Bailey can’t wait to be a part of it.

Tom Zbikowski Returns to St. Patrick

By John Montgomery

Welcome back. Welcome home.

Zbikowski is BAAAAAAAACK in Chicago at St. Patrick.

Tom Zbikowski is hoping to use his life experiences on and off the field to revitalize the football program at St. Patrick High School in Chicago. He has compiled an impressive resume from his playing days at Buffalo Grove, Notre Dame and the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL. Zbikowski, who grew up wanting to be the next Mike Tyson and was even unbeaten in eight bouts as a professional boxer, also hopes to start a boxing program at St. Patrick after the football season. His next major goal is to fight actor Jake Paul.

For now, his focus is on Shamrock football after spending the last three football seasons as an assistant coach at Western Michigan and Brown.

Nobody has to remind Zbikowski that St. Patrick hasn’t won a conference championship in football since 2002. For whatever reason, the Shamrocks haven’t been able to achieve success on a consistent basis, usually with at least one team standing in the way. In basketball, it was St. Joseph. In football, it was Joliet Catholic, a 15-time state champion.

St. Patrick is best known for its success in basketball with back-to-back 500-game winning coaches Max Kurland and Mike Bailey, who guided the Shamrocks to third place in last year’s Class 3A tournament.

In football, St. Patrick overcame a 5-4 regular season in 2021 to advance to the Class 5A quarterfinals. Previously, they had won only eight games in the last three seasons. The Shamrocks have won 11 conference championships but never have won a state football title or a Prep Bowl.

St. Patrick alumni, students and fans are hoping that Zbikowski can have the same impact that former Gordon and DePaul basketball star Tom Kleinschmidt has had at DePaul Prep, which has won three state championships in a row. And former Northern Illinois University quarterback Jordan Lynch, who has guided his alma mater Mount Carmel to four state championships, including the three in a row.

Zbikowski has an interesting perspective on his first head coaching assignment.

“I didn’t come (to St. Patrick) to win a state championship but that would be nice,” he said following a recent practice session. “I don’t want to go 0-9, either. I want to win and send kids to college. I will measure my success by the number of kids who receive scholarships to play college football. That number is very important to me.”

The Shamrocks open their 2025 regular season on Friday night at Yorkville. They will entertain Elgin Larkin in their home opener at Triton College in Week 2.

Zbikowski’s new boss, St. Patrick president Dan Santucci, a former NFL player, recalls when he and Zbikowski were teammates at Notre Dame. 

“I had the privilege of having Tom has a teammate and there is no one who has played with more passion and intensity than him,” Santucci said.

“Tom’s experience at the highest level of football will be a tremendous asset to St. Patrick,” said St. Patrick athletic director Matt Reardon.

To generate more interest among alumni, St Patrick has plans to play an alumni football game at newly renovated Hanson Stadium on a yearly basis.

Meanwhile, his focus is on the 2025 season. He hired former St. Patrick quarterback Tom Barrett to run the Shamrocks’ offense and former Holy Cross football player Kevin Walz to run the defense with help from former St. Patrick coach Dan Galante, who won 77 games at the Northwest Side school.

Zbikowski said his team will throw the football while running a 4-3 defense.

“Working with Tom has been a great experience,” Barrett said. “Everybody thought we were getting this Buddy Ryan guru but he knows a lot about the game of football. He is more concerned about impacting young men.”

Zbikowski’s life in the NFL wasn't as glamorous as many people might believe with games practices and meetings every week.

“People don’t understand the loneliness of being a professional athlete,” he said. “There isn’t enough money in the world.”

And he recalls his never-to-be-forgotten experiences as a two-time All-America defensive back at Notre Dame in 2005 and 2006.

“It was more impressive that I graduated from Notre Dame,” he admitted. “I wasn’t a good student.”

For the time being, he is more anxious to prove he is a good coach. To build a successful program at St. Patrick, Zbikowski knows he must compete on and off the field against neighborhood rival DePaul Prep, which won the Class 4A football championship last year.

The Shamrocks are in the Purple Division of the newly realigned Chicago Catholic League with DePaul Prep, Benet and St. Viator. They have only four returning starters and a new quarterback in Gavin Gardner.

Competing in the Catholic League allows Zbikowski an opportunity to fulfill another dream—to play in the Prep Bowl against the Chicago Public League champion in a classic city rivalry that dates to 1934. And if he has any influence in the matter, he hopes to see the game moved back to Soldier Field.

"I would love the opportunity for our team to play in that game,"

But first is the matchup Friday night  at Yorkville. Game 1 of his new career with the Shamrocks

“I am excited about Friday night. I know my boys have worked hard,” Zbikowski said after Monday’s practice. He also was inspired by his team’s performance in a scrimmage against Hersey on August 22 that attracted a large crowd in Arlington Heights.

“That scrimmage was the most beneficial thing we have done,” he said. “I have accomplished many things in my life but having the ability to impact a young man’s life is most important.”

The first opportunity is Friday night against Yorkville.      

Photo credit: St. Patrick High School