Girls basketball: Woodstock North’s Mike Lewis, McHenry’s Rob Niemic resign as head coaches

Woodstock North’s Mike Lewis and McHenry’s Rob Niemic are both stepping down as girls basketball coaches at their respective schools.

Niemic resigned Friday and Lewis did so earlier in the week. Lewis told his players of his decision to step down the day after the Thunder defeated Johnsburg Feb. 8 to earn the team’s second Kishwaukee River Conference title.

Lewis, 39, has been the team’s only girls basketball coach since the school opened in 2008. He led the Thunder to a 160-197 record over 13 years, including a program-best 21-10 record in 2020. Lewis’ first team was 7-21 and did not have any seniors.

The Thunder won their second KRC title this year and first time outright with a 19-8 record overall. North shared the conference crown with Marengo two years ago.

Lewis, who lives in Antioch, said his choice to step down became clear last month with his children getting more involved in sports. His daughter started sixth-grade basketball and Lewis was unable to be in two places at one time.

Lewis will continue as a special education teacher at North.

“With practices and my own games [in Woodstock], I miss probably 80% of her games,” Lewis said. “It was really really tough for me. On top of that, she asked, ‘Hey dad, when are you going to start coaching me?’ I had to have the tough conversation with my wife. It’s something we’ve talked about for years, that this day was going to come.

“I had every intention of coming back and already started putting in plans but I know this is the right thing for me to do right now. It feels like I’ve been investing in other people’s children for 15 years in Woodstock. Now it’s time for me to invest in my own.”

Lewis, who coached under current Alden-Hebron coach Marty Hammond on the freshman “B” team at Woodstock his first year out of college before taking over the next year at North, said he is most proud about the culture that he, assistant coaches and players helped create with the Thunder.

“That first year where we had only juniors as our oldest kids on varsity, we won one conference game,” he said. “We had some rough years along the way. We were at the bottom of the totem pole of the Fox Valley Conference.

“Now I feel like I’m leaving a program that can stay at the top of the [KRC] every year. It’s a culture that’s not just what myself and coaches wanted it to be. Those kids have made it into the culture that it should be.”

Niemic, a 2001 Crystal Lake South graduate, led the Warriors for eight years, going 126-104 and winning a Class 4A regional championship in 2018. McHenry was 28-3 that season and set the program’s single-season record for wins. It also won the school’s first FVC basketball championship – girls or boys – that year.

From 2018 to 2020, Niemic’s Warriors were 73-23 and consistently among the area’s highest-scoring teams.

Niemic, whose Warriors went 12-21 this year, said it was in the best interest of the program to step down. He thanked all of his current and former players, assistants and athletic director Barry Burmeister, who is retiring after 35 years as a teacher, coach and administrator.

“I’m very grateful for our assistant coaches and every kid that was ‘ALL IN’ with the program,” Niemic said in a text. “Lots of memories we are proud of. I owe a ton of gratitude to Barry Burmeister, who I told I wouldn’t let down eight years ago. His support of McHenry coaches all these years is immeasurable.”

Burmeister and Niemic had conversations in the past few weeks about the direction of the team, so Niemic’s resignation did not catch Burmeister by surprise.

Niemic also is an assistant athletic director and freshman baseball coach at McHenry.

“We’ve had some discussions about what’s best for him, and by no means is he jumping ship on the athletic program,” Burmeister said. “If something else arises, I’m sure he’ll jump right back in. In typical Rob fashion, he wants to do what’s best for the program, and at this time he didn’t feel like the feelings that he had was what was best for the program.”

Burmeister appreciated the way Niemic coached his players.

“Rob is the kind of guy that gives tough love,” Burmeister said. “He coaches them hard, but in the end, he also puts his arm around them and will be there for them on or off the court. Kids come to his classroom every day and everything else. There’s a lot of love for Rob. He thinks more of his players than anybody.”