The Jandron “family business” has been passed down from father to son.

Woodstock District 200 announced the hiring of Josh Jandron, a 2015 Woodstock North graduate, to be the new boys basketball coach, following in the footsteps of his father Dale, who coached the Thunder for the past six seasons.

Jandron’s hiring was approved at Tuesday’s D-200 school board meeting.

Josh and his brother Drew Jandron have been on the bench assisting their father for his six years at North. The Thunder had the first winning boys basketball season in school history in 2019 and followed it with four more winning seasons.

Josh Jandron, 25, is the school’s career scoring leader at 1,113 points and also is first in assists and steals. He was a 2015 Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection, averaging 22.3 points and hitting 92 3-pointers that season.

“It means a lot [to follow my father],” Josh Jandron said. “Him telling me he wanted me to take over kind of inspired me to do it. That wasn’t the only factor, I’ve been doing it for a while now. It was time, I’m ready to be on my own as a head coach.

“It happened that that was the best place for me, especially after putting in six years of work there. I was with him when he started over there. I volunteered there.”

The Thunder won back-to-back Kishwaukee River Conference championships the past two seasons. Dale Jandron resigned his position because his father Robert is going through kidney dialysis in Michigan and he felt he needed to travel and help him out more.

“It couldn’t have happened in a better way than to have the program handed off from my dad.”

—  Josh Jandron, Woodstock North boys basketball coach

“We are extremely excited that coach Jandron is stepping in as Woodstock North’s new head coach,” North athletic director David Rose said. “He’s been an integral part in the success we’ve had during his time as a varsity assistant coach. We are confident that his knowledge of the game and commitment to our student-athletes will continue the strong basketball tradition at Woodstock North.”

Dale Jandron did not teach at North, but works as a landscape supervisor for Seasonal Landscape Solutions in Algonquin. Josh also works in the landscape business presently, but is taking classes and hopes to some day teach physical education or English.

Dale Jandron was 85-80 in his six seasons with the Thunder.

Josh Jandron has coached with the Fundamental U travel program for 2 1/2 years, mostly with the 16U team.

“It couldn’t have happened in a better way than to have the program handed off from my dad,” Josh Jandron said. “I’ve been around basketball since I was 5. It definitely helped me make connections with people around the game, and those people have taken care of me and mentored me in the best way possible.”

Dale Jandron is highly regarded around Woodstock after helping start the Woodstock Recreation Basketball League and coaching the Thunder’s feeder program for several years before he took the varsity job.

“I’m hoping Thunder basketball only gets better from here,” Josh Jandron said. “I hope the excitement isn’t just among the coaches, but with the players too. I want to keep that excitement going and build on it.”