Girls basketball: Kuzmanic returns to preps as Leyden's head coach

Stephanie Kuzmanic had an outstanding career as a basketball player.

Now she hopes to do the same as a coach.

This past summer, Kuzmanic was chosen to direct the Leyden girls basketball program.

The announcement came only a few months after she finished her collegiate career as the Capital One Academic all-American "Player of the Year" for NCAA Division III women's basketball.

She was a first-team All-America selection with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average.

Kuzmanic was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin's "Most Outstanding Player" and first-team All-CCIW in 2014 for the second straight year.

"I always knew that I wanted to coach basketball," said Kuzmanic, who was also an all-state guard for coach Shelly Wiegel at Wheeling High School. "Growing up, the game had been a huge part of my life, and I knew I wanted to stay involved with it in some capacity."

Kuzmanic's original goal was to coach at the collegiate level.

"My plan was to graduate from Carthage, find a graduate assistant position to gain coaching experience, and then eventually find a college coaching job," she said.

But after completing her student teaching at Indian Trail High School and Academy in Kenosha, Wis., Kuzmanic truly realized that high school level was where she wanted to be.

"I had an unbelievable experience teaching high school students and knew that it was the right career for me," said Kuzmanic, who is also a physical education teacher at Leyden.

She credits her experiences at Wheeling and Carthage as the key factors that led to her appointment at Leyden.

"I was fortunate enough to play for excellent programs both in high school and in college," she said.

While at Wheeling, Kuzmanic helped lead the Wildcats to three Mid-Suburban League titles and to a third-place finish in the 2009 Class AA state finals.

At Carthage, she was instrumental in two CCIW titles and three NCAA tournament appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.

"I definitely think that my experiences in these programs were influential in getting me to this point," Kuzmanic said. "Because I had these opportunities, I was able to see what hard work and dedication my coaches put in to make their programs so successful. Hopefully, I can take what I have learned from them and apply that to Leyden basketball."

After playing for Wiegel at Wheeling, Kuzmanic's coaches at Carthage were Tim Bernero and Brittany Carper.

"I was really lucky to be able to play for outstanding coaches throughout my basketball career," she said. "I had very positive relationships with all of them on and off the court, and still keep in touch with them today.

"The fact that I had such a great experience playing for those coaches really inspired me to want to pursue the same path. I want to be able to have the same positive impact on kids that my coaches had on me.

"They have all taught me about the game, and they always pushed me to be my best."

That's what Kuzmanic plans to do with her players at Leyden.

"Like any other program, one of our goals will be to win as many games as possible," she said. "However, I want my athletes to understand that there is more to what we are doing than just wins and losses on a stat sheet.

"Our goal is to help the girls excel not just on the court, but also in the classroom and in the community. Hopefully they will carry the discipline and lessons they learn from the game of basketball with them when they graduate, and utilize it in their every day lives."

Kuzmanic replaces Drewann Pancratz, also a graduate of Carthage College where she starred in volleyball and now the head coach at Conant High School.

Pancratz was also a basketball standout at Schaumburg High School.

"She (Pancratz) did a fantastic job at Leyden," Kuzmanic said. "And she really did a number of positive things for the program. I hope to build off that and continue to improve what she started."

Kuzmanic would love to see steady improvement.

"Obviously, we want to continuously get better as a program every single day," she said. "To do that, our coaching staff will stress the importance of a good work ethic. Whether we win or lose, we will strive to be the hardest working team on the court."