Boys basketball: Prairie Ridge hires Brian Frericks as new head coach

Brian Frericks was ready to meet players for the first time last week after being named Prairie Ridge‘s boys basketball coach earlier this month.

But Frericks, a 2013 Crystal Lake South graduate, had a very good reason to postpone the team’s initial meet-and-greet.

Frericks, 29, and his wife Katina, a competitive dance coach at Cary-Grove, welcomed their first child [daughter Makenzie] on Wednesday.

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Frericks, who will now get a chance to turn the Wolves around after a couple of down years. He comes to Prairie Ridge after coaching varsity girls basketball at Grayslake North the past two years. Athletic director Chris Schremp announced the Wolves’ newest hiring Thursday.

“I’m just really excited to meet everyone and start working,” Frericks said. “From what I’ve heard, it’s a great group of kids who are going to work hard. I’m excited to get the ball rolling.”

Frericks takes over for Ryan Smith, who led the Wolves for six seasons. Smith recently left Prairie Ridge to take an assistant principal position at Elgin Area School District U-46.

Prairie Ridge finished 6-25 last year and was ninth in the Fox Valley Conference with a 2-16 mark. The Wolves last had a winning record (16-15) during the 2021-22 season. Prairie Ridge was led in scoring by guard Ben Gablenz, a returning senior, at 10.1 points a game.

In two years at Grayslake North, Brian Frericks had a 28-35 record. The Knights were 20-12 in his first season there.

“I loved my time at Grayslake North,” Frericks said. “The team gave me everything they had every single night. The big thing it really taught me is how to build a program and how to start from the freshman level to varsity level. I got to talk to a lot of really great coaches on the girls and boys sides, and I learned a lot of interesting and unique things.

“The game of basketball is different on the boys side, but I got to pick the brains of a lot of great coaches.”

“Finding people who truly understand that you’re teaching more than a sport, those are the types of coaches we want. With Brian, I know he’ll be teaching the kids a lot more than just the Xs and Os of basketball.”

—  Chris Schremp, Prairie Ridge athletic director

Frericks’ older brother, Mike, who was hired as Prairie Ridge’s football coach in February, let Brian know of the school’s open position when it became available.

Schremp said that he heard a lot of great things about Frericks throughout the interview process.

“When I took the job as AD, one thing I said we were always going to look for is that our coaches are good people,” Schremp said. “And I think that’s one thing that you find out about Brian right away.

“He got his girls excited to play basketball. He’s going to play a very much in-your-face and hard-nosed style of defense.”

Brian Frericks, who will teach math at Prairie Ridge, said it will be nice to have his older brother in the same building. Frericks, who graduated from NIU, also did his student teaching at Prairie Ridge, although that was not in-person because of the pandemic.

“It’s going to be really cool,” Frericks said of being at the same school as his brother Mike. “He’s been there a few years now, so just using his knowledge and resources is going to be really helpful.”

Schremp said that he is looking forward to working with Brian after getting to know Mike, who was on Schremp’s football staff for two seasons. Schremp stepped down as Prairie Ridge’s football coach in October.

“The other thing that stood out to me in my reference [checks] was what a wonderful math teacher he was and how he excelled in the classroom,” Schremp said. “In sports, yeah, you’re a coach, but really you’re a teacher first.

“Finding people who truly understand that you’re teaching more than a sport, those are the types of coaches we want. With Brian, I know he’ll be teaching the kids a lot more than just the Xs and Os of basketball.”

Frericks’ first coaching experience came at Crystal Lake South when he helped with summer league basketball after graduating. He initially went to NIU for accounting, but later made the switch to education to became a teacher and, eventually, coach.

Frericks can’t wait to get started. He didn’t play basketball in college, but he remembers how exciting his playing days were in high school.

“I remember playing them [Prairie Ridge] growing up, they were always tough,” Frericks said. “Their football has such a great reputation, and academically the school does really good, too. Just knowing the students that go there, their work ethic and their passion, that’s just something that I was like, ‘Yeah, I definitely want to be a part of [that].’ ”