Three weeks.
That’s only how long Taylor Thiel has to pack everything up from his recent residence to his new home – which used to be his old home. Three weeks to move him and his son from the Fort Worth area back to Galesburg, where he grew up and starred for the 1998 Silver Streaks boys basketball team that played for a state championship.
Three weeks until Thiel has to start coaching summer camp as part of his new job as coach of the Silver Streaks.
“It’s been quite the whirlwind for me lately,” Thiel said. “For me, it felt like it was now or never.”
Thiel, 45, is talking about the decision to accept this position after it came up suddenly last month when Chad Thompson stepped down. It might look easy on paper – a guy comes back home to coach in his hometown – but it wasn’t.
Thiel doesn’t have a teaching degree, so he had to get permission from Galesburg athletic director Nick Young and the school board to OK him coaching the team. He had to get assurances from his employer, a real estate company from the Fort Worth area, that he could continue working remotely. He also had to get the blessing of his son, who will be a senior this fall, and from his ex-wife, who still lives in Texas.
It was a yes on all three, and so here Thiel is, back in Galesburg to coach at his alma mater at a gym that has his family name on the front.
“A lot of my friends said, ‘Man, you need to do it.’ I was kind of in a period of transition in my life anyway. This job coming open kind of pushed the envelope a little and made it happen sooner,” Thiel said.
Thiel has come back to Galesburg often to see his parents in the past 10 years or so since living in Texas. Now, he said, he gets to be around them much more in their golden years.
“I found out that the job was open, and really thought hard about it for a couple days, then just put my application in and reached out to Nick personally,” Thiel said. “I didn’t know what kind of chance I had. I didn’t know if you had to be a teacher or not. It turned out to be a non-certified position, so I’m OK to do it. The stars kind of aligned for me.”
Thiel has done some coaching youth sports in the Fort Worth area, and he’s no stranger to the sports world. He not only starred at basketball at Galesburg, but he was an excellent baseball player and later became a Division III Hall of Fame catcher at Monmouth College.
His grandfather, John, went 398-90 as coach of the Silver Streaks boys team and the floor on which the team plays today is John Thiel Gymnasium.
“Are there some nerves taking the job? Yes, absolutely. I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Thiel said. “I didn’t do it just because my grandfather’s name is on the gym. I mean, that’s nice. But I want to really put my personal stamp on it and put Galesburg back on the map as a contender.”
He will do that, he hopes, with a brand of basketball that puts defense first. Then, when they take the ball from the opposition, run as much as possible. No belabored, half-court style if he can avoid it.
“I want to turn up the pressure and try to get the tempo of the game,” Thiel said. “I’m a believe that if you can get turnovers and rebound defensively, the offense will follow. I haven’t been able to evaluate everybody quite yet, but I know that time is coming.”
In about three weeks.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: ‘It felt like it was now or never’: Why Taylor Thiel is taking over Galesburg boys basketball
Reporting by Adrian Dater / Galesburg Register-Mail
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