2025 Northwest Herald Girls Basketball Coach of the Year: Huntley’s Steve Raethz

Huntley’s Steve Raethz won only two games during his first season as the school’s girls basketball coach in 1999-2000.

In his 26th and latest season at the school, Raethz led the Red Raiders on a historic run.

Huntley won its first 35 games, capturing its first sectional title since 2016, and coming within a win of its second state tournament appearance in school history (2013).

No other area team has piled up that many wins in a season, with Milt Awe’s Hampshire Whip-Purs winning 32 games in 2003. The Raiders won their fourth straight Fox Valley Conference championship, going 70-2 in FVC play since the start of 2022, 12th regional title and fourth sectional crown.

For leading the Red Raiders to a record-breaking season, Raethz was voted the 2025 Northwest Herald Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, as chosen by the sports staff with input from area coaches. Cary-Grove’s Tony Moretti and Crystal Lake Central’s Joe Capalbo also were considered for the honor.

Raethz has won the Northwest Herald Girls Basketball Coach of the Year award seven times, most recently in 2021. He also won in 2001, 2007, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Raethz recently spoke with the Northwest Herald about his favorite memories from the season, biggest challenges, favorite movies and more.

What is the best part about coaching?

Raethz: I think it’s the relationships with our players and coaches. That’s something that’s really important to me, and I know it’s really important to the rest of our staff. The relationships that we are able to develop with players and coaches and just the process of working toward something each and every day.

Which one of your players do you find really inspiring?

Raethz: In order to have the season that we had, there were so many moments this year where I felt like we had so many different players at different moments step up and contribute to the success of our team. In order to have a special season where we won 35 games in a row, you have to have a lot of moments from players and from our team. It truly was a collective team effort from everybody.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

Raethz: I had the pleasure of having Walter Payton as an assistant coach on my high school basketball team my junior and senior year in high school, and that was obviously an amazing opportunity to be coached by one of the best players in NFL history. I also took martial arts for eight years.

What three movies can you watch over and over again?

Raethz: “Hoosiers,” “Major League” and “Field of Dreams.”

What was the biggest challenge you faced this year?

Raethz: It’s easy to fall in the trap of getting ahead of yourself and allowing complacency to set in when you find success, but this group never allowed that to happen throughout the season. I think that they were driven by the process each day. I think that allowed themselves to kind of stay in the moment and focus on the next thing that was in front of them. And, you know, as a result, we had some remarkable outcomes and found a lot of success as a team. But the challenge always was to stay present in the moment and not get ahead of ourselves.

What is one of your biggest pet peeves?

Raethz: I would probably just say not always putting forth your best effort and trying. I think that that’s something that a person can always control no matter what the outcome is.

If you could spend a day with anyone from history, who would it be?

Raethz: I’m having a really hard time narrowing it down to just one historical figure, so the three that I would choose to have dinner with would be Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

What will you miss most about the senior class?

Raethz: The first thing that comes to mind when I think of our seniors is just gratitude. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach them – Anna [Campanelli] for the last four years, Madison [Diaz] and Paula [Strzelecki] for the last two years, and Ava [McFadden] and Isabella [Boskey] for the last three. They’re everything you want in terms of players who represent the program in the right way. They’re tremendous leaders, and they’re great kids on and off the floor, and the impact that they’ve had on our program has been immeasurable.