Cayden Hansen, 20, was starting out with his first head coaching experience.

Kenny Wilcoxen, 68, had a 37-year Hall of Fame career at the junior high level with 30 conference championships in basketball between seventh and eighth grade and numerous state track champions and medalists.

They’ve made for a perfect match with the Princeton Logan Junior High eighth grade basketball team this season.

The Lions have gone 19-7 since a 1-3 start and will take a 20-4 record as the No. 1 seed into the Class 3A Kewanee Regional which begins on Saturday. They won the Starved Rock Conference tournament last week.

“They were trying to find somebody who was old and could help,” Wilcoxen said. “Tim Smith (Princeton High School assistant and former PES Superintendent) brought up that I had a grandson and last year I kept the scorebook at all the games. He said I’m sure I’d be all the games anyway and asked me if I’d coach and here I am.

“Some of the gyms I’ve walked into at away games they’re saying, ‘What in the heck are you doing? I say, ‘well, they needed a second person and the grandson’s playing.”

Hansen, a 2024 PHS graduate, is soaking up all the knowledge he can from the veteran Wilcoxen. Being such a young coach just a few years removed from playing at Logan himself it’s helped ease any nerves he had.

“Definitely helps with the first-year jitters doing it with a guy who’s done it for so long,” Hansen said. “I was nervous going into the year, dealing with (his youth) and how parents would respond. Honestly, this group of parents have been so great. That’s another thing Ken helps with. He’s known these parents for years now with his grandson being on the team.

“He’s taught me a lot. He brings a lot of experience. It helps when I come into a pickle. The biggest thing for me, I really stress about my timeouts. He’s good about helping me when I should call one.”

Hansen jokes that Wilcoxen, who is a distinguished IHSA official, “lets me know who’s likely to throw a T and what refs I can ride a little. He really keeps me in check on the bench.”

The Lions rookie coach said the PHS coaches “really pushed for me to get on at Logan to help with the communication between the schools and give the kids a head start on what they will running at the high school level.”

Kids are kids to Wilcoxen. The biggest adjustment for the old coach has been getting used to riding the busses again.

“I’ve forgotten what that’s like,” he said.

Wilcoxen, whose grandson Ethan Turpen is on the Logan squad, said it’s been an exciting season. He’s already coached many of them with Rim Rockers travel team as well in Princeton Youth Baseball.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. Cayden’s doing a good job and him and I working together has been really good,” Wilcoxen said.

The former BV coach is not used to the larger numbers coming out for basketball at Logan.

“When we had the first meeting for sixth, seventh and eighth grade we had 89 kids walk in. I’ve never been involved in cutting and putting up a roster on the door who made the team before because at BV you just kept everyone,” he said.

Wilcoxen, who has nine IHSA state tournament assignment between football and boys and girls basketball under his belt, is still officiating around the Logan schedule.

“I’m pretty much doing something every night,” he said.

The old coach said this will be a “one and done” for him at Logan as he follows his grandson to PHS since “they have plenty of coaches at the high school.”

Hansen was a junior on the Tigers’ No. 1 ranked sectional finalists in 2022-23 and said he gained a lot of insights playing on such a talented team. He turned in his uniform as a senior to help out the Tiger coaching staff and continued last year.

“You don’t get to see stuff like that very often around here. Practices are just electric,” he said. “It’s hard to have a team especially in this area that had three Div. I football players, because you had Noah LaPorte, Teegan Davis and Bennett Williams. Plus you’ve got Kolton Monroe and three of those guys are 6-5 plus, Then you’ve got a Div. 3 basketball player in Grady Thompson.

“It’s back and forth all practice long. You were just battling. It’s fun being there. Watching those guys play. Just a different atmosphere.”

Hansen would like to stay on at Logan to help develop the young talent for PHS.

“At this level specifically, you just see so much growth out of every single player. It’s just a drastic jump from Day 1 to where we are now,” he said.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com