WEEKEND CHIT-CHAT WITH ... Colleen Brennan

New St. Charles North girls basketball coach Colleen Brennan oversees a training camp at North this week. Brennan is the daughter of Barry Brennan, a longtime former basketball coach in the Wheaton school district who is now an assistant football coach at Elmhurst College. (Sandy Bressner – sbressner@kcchronicle.com)

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It’s a no-win situation, the way Colleen Brennan sees it. When she lived in Charleston, S.C., the locals thought Brennan’s voice was Chicago through and through. Now that the Wheaton native is back in Chicagoland as the new St. Charles North girls basketball coach, people accuse Brennan of talking like a southerner. Brennan, who was an assistant girls basketball coach at Lake Park before a seven-year run as an assistant at the prestigious Porter-Gaud prep school in Charleston, sat down with Chronicle sports editor Jay Schwab to discuss her affinity for Charleston, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and her new gig with the North Stars. The follow is an edited transcript:

What inspired you to pursue the North job?
I found out about the opening in the special education field. I obviously was involved in a basketball program and I didn’t know what the opportunity would be but toward the end of the tour I spoke with [athletic director John Rutter] ... he checked on my experience and then called me an hour and a half later and wanted  to take advantage of me being in town. They got a team together that afternoon. ... Whether I was going to move or not was the issue. There’s no question the [teaching] job was a better opportunity but coaching the basketball really kind of pushed me over the edge. And then my entire immediate family lives here, my niece and nephew, a brother and a sister and then both of my parents. They all live in the Wheaton area, and my brother lives in Aurora, and he actually teaches at Neuqua [Valley].

What did you know about the North program?
I had some awareness of them. When I coached at Lake Park we played the St. Charles teams and through keeping in contact with previous Lake Park coaches it comes up. And I played in a couple tournament with [St. Charles] when I was younger. Specifically, I knew they had a great player last year (Kelsey Smith). I had heard about that but I didn’t really know that much specifically about the program of what they had and what they hadn’t done ... but very often when you graduate such a strong player, there’s a good opportunity for change.

Give me a feel for your coaching style. What do you want to be the hallmarks of your program?
Big-time hustle. We push the ball. We’re rough. I want to be rough. I like to call it femininely rough. I’d like to be known for defense.

Charleston has a great reputation. Is it everything it’s cracked up to be?
It is. It is absolutely beautiful. It truly is. It’s expanded so much in the last seven years. It’s not a secret anymore.

What will you miss most about the city?
My friends, and the beach. And my best friend from childhood still lives there, and she’s like a second sister. That’s going to be a pretty difficult thing for me, and she just had a baby.

Charleston’s known as a high society kind of town. Did the kids on your team celebrate a big win with a tea party or anything like that?
They really do have that. All the kids go to Cotillion at young ages. Everything is ‘Yes maam, no ma’am.’ Everything. I said ‘Stop calling me ma’am, goodness, I’m not 80.’ But it is everyone, and I do it now. It’s rude there not to say it. ... It is pretty high society. It does have some of those stereotypes. Who knows what they did after games? Probably went out to a really nice dinner, and maybe ordered some tea. Or flew their jets to a really nice island for the weekend.

What did you learn from the camp sessions you’ve had at North?
You know, getting to know the kids, which is really, really good. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the younger levels. A lot of the older and more experienced girls have been playing in some other tournaments or they’re in AAU travel. ... I’m really going to have to kind of [get to know them] by doing a lot of the preseason stuff with them, conditioning and weightroom.

Who around here has helped you the most in getting acclimated?
John Rutter has been great, the athletic director, and [assistant coaches] Steve Macaitis and Annie Lauterer. ... They’ve just been really dedicated, calling me, bringing up questions, giving me feedback. They’ve just been really, really great. ...  There’s one more coach we’re going to get, and then we’ll see where all the coaches are going to go.

We’re not in the gym anymore so you can’t cheat and look at the banners. How many teams in the Upstate Eight Conference can you name?
Can I name? St. Charles North, St. Charles East. Lake Park. Neuqua, Waubonsie. Bartlett. Larkin. What is it, the new one, Metea Valley? Is it Elgin, too. Elgin and Larkin? Streamwood? Aren’t we in with one of the Auroras? Isn’t East Aurora in there?

(She gets them all correct except for South Elgin, new to the conference since her days at Lake Park).

Which state has the more disgraced recent governor, South Carolina or Illinois?
I’m going to say Illinois. I am. I guess the other one is a little more recent, and they’re still looking into some specifics. People make poor choices in their personal life but ... I tell you what, if taxpayers paid for [the trips to Argentina], that’s another large issue.