DePaul College Prep basketball coach Tom Kleinschmidt has had a great career
CHICAGO (BVM) 鈥� DePaul Prep boy鈥檚 basketball head coach Tom Kleinschmidt has had a great career. Kleinschmidt and DePaul College Prep had an amazing basketball season, finishing with a 28-6 record.
Although DePaul College Prep did lose to Nashville Community High School 31-24 in double-overtime in the Class 2A State Semifinals, it ended up winning its third-place game against Rockridge High School 41-22 to finish off the season.
When he first got into coaching, Kleinschmidt thought it was about wins and losses. He quickly learned that it was about mentoring and helping out young kids navigate their way through high school as well as other very important aspects of life.
However wins and losses do still matter and Kleinschmidt has gotten plenty of wins. In fact his favorite part about coaching DePaul Prep basketball has been building DePaul Prep back into one of the better programs in the state.
鈥淎s funny as it sounds, the build and the grind of all those tough years and getting to the place where we鈥檙e at right now where we鈥檙e known throughout the state,鈥� Kleinschmidt said.
Before Kleinschmidt left York High School to take over the Rams program in April of 2012, the DePaul Prep boys basketball team had a record of 62-122 from 2005-2012. Ever since then the team has an overall record of 194-86, and they have also won the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Regional every year since 2015.
The DePaul College Prep Rams won the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division and finished third in the Class 3A IHSA State qualifiers in 2019. The program had great sectional wins in 2019 and 2022 and a super sectional win in 2019. DePaul Prep also won the 2021 Chipotle Clash of Champions.
Along with the winning, Kleinschmidt has really enjoyed building relationships with his players and other coaches. These relationships have helped the basketball program grow tremendously from where it once was.
The relationships have helped the program and the culture Kleinschmidt has created has played a huge role in the success the Rams have had. Kleinschmidt鈥檚 favorite piece of advice to give to a team is to compete and work hard everyday. Playing and working hard are non-negotiables. He believes that it is not a compliment if somebody tells you that you work hard because that is what you鈥檙e supposed to do.
If Kleinschmidt wasn鈥檛 coaching, he would possibly be doing something in counseling. In college, he majored in communications and had always thought that he wanted to be a sports broadcaster but now that he is older, he sees the enjoyment in working with young kids.
Kleinschmidt鈥檚 favorite activity to do when he is not coaching is to hang out with his friends. He loves being the Director of Admissions at DePaul College Prep and he is blessed to have great friends and great family also.
Kleinschmidt is looking to continue his great career as a coach next season. From the team that took third place at state this season the Rams have nine guys returning, six of them juniors and three of them sophomores.
