PREP ZONE: Matacio ready to turn attention to next project

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St. Charles North announced new varsity coaches in four sports on Friday, with one sport still to go. That last one is a hole that could prove to be among the toughest to fill.

Tim Matacio, who launched North’s boys and girls tennis program, has stepped aside, having turned North into the premier tennis power in the Tri-Cities area.

Matacio calls his departure a “retirement” from coaching high school tennis, declining to specify all the factors involved. He intends to pursue a project to enhance youth tennis development in the area but deferred publicizing his plans until they are solidified.

Matacio, who coached at North for nine years after 11 as a boys assistant coach at Hinsdale Central, hopes to stay involved with North’s program in a lesser role.

“I just think in a lot of ways it was just time for me to step away from day-to-day coaching,” Matacio said. “I see it more as becoming a grandparent rather than a parent.”

This past school year, the North girls finished 13th and the North boys placed 16th at the IHSA state tournament. Matacio had hoped to bring North even closer to the state’s upper crust when leaving tennis giant Hinsdale Central to take over at North.

“There’s still a long way to go,” Matacio said. “Really what has to happen for us to compete realistically at the state level, which is what I came out here really to do, is there has to be a lot more early player development and a lot more kids have to play at a younger age. That’s what I’m going to be working on.”

Matacio said he never missed a single practice or match in his time at both schools.

“That’s the nature of what it is to be a coach,” Matacio said. “You’ve got to be there, and that’s how I felt about it.”

Matacio expects North’s new coach to have strong personnel to work with on both the boys and girls side next school year.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity I had and really excited about what I’m looking to do,” Matacio said. “It’s all good as far as I’m concerned.”

Booked solid: Another successful North coach has a simple reason for stepping aside – she’s just too busy on the homefront.

Ex-North girls basketball coach Katie Sauber now has two children under age 2, 1-month-old daughter Harlee and son Jack, who is almost 2.

The intensive parenting needed in the years ahead forced Sauber to give up something she loves.

“I agonized over it because obviously I’m very passionate about coaching,” Sauber said. “It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing, and I wanted to be a head coach for a very long time, but once I had my son, Jack, I realized the most important thing to me was being a mother, and especially when my daughter came along, I knew I could not do both.”

The North Stars enjoyed prosperity in Sauber’s three years as head coach; she coached at North’s lower levels for five years beforehand. The highlight came in the 2007-08 season, when the Kelsey Smith-led North Stars advanced to supersectionals, one game short of the state semifinals in Normal.

Smith, a Michigan State recruit, graduated this year. New coach Colleen Brennan, moving to the area from South Carolina, figures to look for leadership this season from senior point guard Kiley Hackbarth.

Sauber will continue to teach physical education. She is optimistic North will remain a winner.

“[Brennan] is going to do a great job with them,” Sauber said. “I trust in the decision [athletic director]

John Rutter made and the girls made. This coach is going to do a great job.”

• Jay Schwab is sports editor of The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@kcchronicle.com.