Next week, veteran coach Lou Adams begins his third season at Rich.
When Adams stepped down at Orr after the 2021-22 season following 19 years at the West Side school, he wasn’t sure where he would coach again. But he knew he wasn’t done.
“I thought I would coach again,” Adams said. “But I really wanted to coach at a big school in 3A or 4A.”
Just six months removed from leading a program, Adams got his wish.
Former Rich coach Jamere Dismukes called Adams about being his assistant. Adams wasn’t ready for a move to just “stay in the game.” But several weeks later, Dismukes called Adams again, this time telling him he was taking the Homewood-Flossmoor job.
“JD [Dismukes] told me I might want to take a look at the job,” Adams said of the opening at Rich. “So I threw my name in the hat.”
Rich hired him to replace Dismukes, and since then, Adams has been “rejuvenated.”
The 57-year-old Adams is feeling good physically after a health scare in 2017 that led to a heart-stent procedure.
“It was a scare, but it didn’t take me out,” Adams said. “I stayed strong, and basketball really kept me going.”
Now he has a team loaded with individual talent. Led by junior star Jamson Coulter and Al Brooks, a big-name transfer from Hansberry, Rich undoubtedly will be ranked among the top 10 in the area when the season tips later this month.
Adams has been struck by the many advantages of coaching in the suburbs, particularly at a program he said reminds him of a “college atmosphere.”
“I didn’t do a lot of homework on Rich, but what I did know is that they had kids,” Adams said of the large student enrollment compared to that of Orr. “Anytime you have kids in the numbers they have, and you put the work in, you’ve got a chance.”
He also enjoys the basketball and athletic amenities he didn’t have in the city.
“I can’t say many bad things about my time in the city,” he said. “But it’s an entirely different animal out here.”
Adams praised the support he receives — from the superintendent to the school administration to the community.
“They’re all on board,” he said. “With all that we have here, it’s like a college atmosphere. We have a trainer on site every day, taping and ice. We have ice baths. The facilities are second to none. It’s just unbelievable. It’s like a college.”
Adams won six state trophies at Orr, including three straight state championships from 2017 to ’19. He built the program into a power. Now, after winning 19 games in his first year and 23 last season, he’s in the midst of doing it again at Rich.
The goals are big. They go beyond beating other talent-rich south suburban schools.
“I was telling my players that our goal isn’t to beat HF or to beat Hillcrest in the south suburbs; that’s not my goal,” Adams said. “We want to be the best. Period. For us, our goal is to win the whole thing. We have to stay the course. We do look good right now. We just need to stay in our lane.”