WOODSTOCK – Sean Stochl becomes the latest in a line of Marian Central graduates returning to his school in hopes of recapturing some of the Hurricanes’ former glory.

Stochl, a 2005 Marian graduate who played football, basketball and baseball, was announced as the Hurricanes’ head boys basketball coach Wednesday.

Stochl succeeds Charley Walsh, whose teams were 34-76 in the previous four seasons. Marian athletic director Cody O’Neill chose to let Walsh go and seek another direction with the head coaching position.

Marian hired Kaitlin Bordeaux (Marian, 2009) as director of development in 2018, then hired 2013 graduate Liam Kirwan as football coach and O’Neill (2009) as AD last year.

“As coach Kirwan came back and coach O’Neill came back and Kaitlin has addressed, we were missing that community setting,” Stochl said. “As coach Kirwan started the program and as the athletic department is moving forward, we’re morphing to where Hurricanes have been a tropical storm. It’s not being respected the way it used to be respected.

“This thing needs to be turned around. It needs to be a Cat 5 hurricane. I’ve accepted that opportunity. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to find a way to make it happen. I definitely believe I have the skills to do that for you. I have the knowledge in the sport they’re asking me to coach. It should have never been downgraded to a tropical storm. I want to be a Cat 5.”

O’Neill narrowed five interviewees down to two finalists before choosing Stochl. He liked that Stochl was part of the Marian family before.

“This search took a lot of time and effort, a lot of people involved,” O’Neill said. “I had a lot of advice from a lot of people who know the area. A couple things stood out for why I chose the person that I chose. It started when Kaitlin Bordeaux was hired, it went on with coach Kirwan and then with myself.

“My goal with what we’re trying to do with sports here is to give everybody the best experience. I want everyone down to the last guy on the bench to have the same experience as those five guys on the floor. That’s extremely important to me that everyone has that same experience that I had from 2005 to 2009.”

Stochl played basketball and football at Harper College, a two-year school in Palatine. He then played two more years of basketball at Blackburn College, an NCAA Division III school in Carlinville.

Stochl’s wife, Erin, is Johnsburg’s girls head coach. Their daughter, Sutton, is 1 1/2.

Stochl coached football and girls tennis at Johnsburg. He coached men’s and women’s basketball, at the same time, for three seasons at Harper.

“There wasn’t too many people in the country doing that,” Stochl said. “I coached at 5 and 7, had practices at 2 and 4. I learned how to do a lot. Just handling yourself and time management. When I got asked to come back and coach football a couple years ago, I didn’t know if I was ready.

“I finally realized that some of the things here wasn’t what it used to be. It wasn’t Ed Brucker. It wasn’t Tom Les. Curtis Price had a spin on it. It was still vibrant. It’s gotten lost, and Marian shouldn’t be that way. It’s a place that should be vibrant. I want this thing to blossom, to grow. It’s a place where I can come back and give. I’m going to give them my all, and hopefully the kids feed off of that.”

Marian will benefit from playing next year in the new Chicagoland Christian Conference, in which the Hurricanes should be more competitive than they were in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. They are playing as an independent school this year.

The Hurricanes also will be returning Christian Bentancur, who has 1,459 career points, and Cale McThenia, who could pass 1,000 career points in his first game next season, to lead the way next season. The Hurricanes were 13-18 last season, and Bentancur and McThenia will be in their fourth varsity seasons.

“Being able to coach Christian Bentancur makes a coach’s life easy,” Stochl said. “McThenia can play. I hope I can elevate him to a whole new level. You can’t double Christian in the post if Cale’s running around getting screens. It has to be a complement.

“I believe in playing a lot of people. There’s no way you can play the whole game and give it 100% all the time. You have to be giving 100% while you’re out there for your teammates. It creates better practices.”