Curtis Price grew up playing basketball, starred at Chicago St. Rita in the late 1980s and played on some outstanding DePaul teams for former coach Joey Meyer in the early 1990s.

So stepping away as Marian Central’s boys basketball coach was a difficult decision for Price to make, although he figures he now can impact more athletes.

“Everyone, at some point in their career, needs to take the next step,” said Price, who was announced Monday as Marian’s new athletic director. “Going to athletic director from coaching seems like the perfect next step for me. I feel like it’s something I can excel in, trying to develop a successful athletic program, building relationships with coaches and players. I feel like I can do a good job in that aspect.”

Price, 46, was the Hurricanes’ boys basketball coach for the past nine seasons and served as former Marian AD Drew Potthoff’s assistant the past three years. Marian superintendent Andy Edmondson announced in April that Potthoff would not return.

Edmondson said Marian had 15 candidates its search committee looked at for the position, with Price and two others selected as finalists. Along with the administration team, Edmondson has Father Carl Beekman to represent the priests, Andy Hartlieb representing alumni and cross country coach Amy Beattie representing coaches and smaller sports.
"The committee came to a consensus behind Curtis, which I really appreciated,"

Edmondson said. “The fact that in the past he came out to smaller sports, he was present, he was visible, we heard that through the committee. He put in that work, and it was very much appreciated.”

Price’s basketball teams won Class 3A regional championships in 2010, 2011 and 2014. The title in 2010 ended a 33-year regional drought for the ‘Canes. He previously coached girls basketball at Harvard before taking the Marian job.

“Helping student-athletes at Marian was something I took a lot of pride in,” Price said. “It was tough to get away from that part, but at the same time I’m moving in to a different role, a much bigger role. Now I can have a positive effect not only on my basketball players, but every student-athlete, and I’m very excited about that.”

One of Price’s first orders of business will be hiring his basketball successor. He said that job will be posted Tuesday. Another will be meeting with all the coaches.

“I want to touch base with them and keep building relationships we already had,” Price said. “They looked at me as a coach, now they’re looking at me as their athletic director and I have to do everything in my power to make sure they have everything they need to help their programs grow.”