Naughton brings strong background to Conant

She starred for New Trier coach Teri Rodgers in high school.

She did the same in college for DePaul coach Doug Bruno.

Now, Deirdre Naughton hopes to put her learning experiences from those mentors to good use as the new Conant girls basketball coach.

She accepted the position last spring taking over the program from Dan Travers, who retired from teaching last spring.

Naughton spent last season as the sophomore girls basketball coach at York High School in Elmhurst.

She was a varsity assistant at New Trier from 2011-2013, and worked with off-season player development, coordinating summer basketball camps and junior high school feeder program camps.

"I was coached by two of the best coaches in the high school and college game," Naughton said. "The lessons I learned on and off the court from Teri Rodgers and Doug Bruno have molded many of my coaching philosophies. I have great support from those two coaches and to this day they are both a phone call away if I ever need any advice."

At New Trier, Naughton scored more than 2,000 points and was a third team Parade all-American.

At DePaul, Naughton finished her career ranked 22nd in scoring with 1,198 career points and was the 2009 Big East player of the year. She also played freshman year at Wake Forest and ended up with 1,617 points in college while majoring in secondary education with a concentration in social sciences.

Naughton's love for sports started right in her own family.

"My dad (John) has been so supportive and he was the first person to stress the importance of little details in life being the most important," she said. "The coaches I played for continued to stress that and led me to want to continue learning and teaching the game. I can't forget my mom (Julie) who always reminded me at the end of the day to enjoy the experience of playing the game."

A game she has been around since she was born.

"Basketball has always been the center piece of my life," she said. "Coaching runs in the family. "My grandpa (Clem, who was a legend in high school football and basketball in the Chicago Catholic League) was a coach and I have two brothers (Patrick and Peter) who coach high school football."

It made for a natural transition for Naughton to become a coach.

"I am really passionate about giving the girls who come through this program a positive experience they will take with them the rest of their lives," she said. "My biggest mentors in my life have been my coaches. I was able to experience how much of a positive impact the sport and those coaches had on my life and that inspires me to want to do the same for every girl that comes through the Conant girls basketball program."

Naughton wants to see the Cougars as a conference contender every season.

"Year in and year out we will be competing for a conference title and to play deep into the post season," she said. "We also want all the girls in our program to learn the value of commitment, competitiveness, hard work, and most importantly team work."

Naughton will be emphasizing the little things.

"Details, details, details," she said. "We spend a lot of practice time doing fundamental drills. I tell the girls each day it's not what we run on offense or defense, it's how we run it. Whether we are 5-0 in a drill or 5-5 the girls are doing all the little details the exact same way every time."