Nick Oraham is still learning about Oswego's basketball players, but he makes three promises about what kind of team they will be.
they will be tough. They become physical.
And, as Oraham demonstrated himself during the interview process, they will be detail-oriented.
“I want teams to look at the schedule and say, ‘Do we have to play Oswego?’” Oraham said. “We want to create nightmares for opposing teams from a defensive standpoint, and offensively we want to space the floor.”
Oraham, who served as head coach at Elk Grove for six seasons, was approved as Oswego's next men's basketball coach at Monday's board meeting.
The 37-year-old Lockport resident played high school at Crystal Lake South and is an Eastern Illinois graduate who was the head coach at Dixon for two years before attending Elk Grove and was an assistant at Loyola before that. was. Being closer to his home, cutting his commute by 19 miles each way, was just one of the factors that attracted Oraham to the Oswego job.
“I was looking for a place that was close to home for 'A' and 'B' was looking for a place that had a community feel,” said Oraham, who is married and has two boys, ages 7 and 5. Told. “What really attracted me to Oswego is that the enrollment is three times as large as Dixon. The kids and the people there have a lot of pride in the school and the town. To get that job. I was excited.
“The school has a good tradition, it's a school that takes athletics very seriously and the facilities are great. It ticks a lot of boxes.”
Oswego is coming off a 4-25 season as coach Chad Pohlman enters his seventh and final season on the sideline. The Panthers' last winning season was 2019-2020, but they went 16-16 in 2022-2023.
Oswego will return the team's leading scorer, 6-foot-5 All-Area junior Dasean Patton, to the team next season, and Oraham said Oswego's sophomore team will play “17 games if I'm not mistaken. I won,” he said.
“There's some good work,” Oraham said.
Oraham posted a 28-139 record in six seasons at Elk Grove, but the program's last winning season was in 2014-2015.
Dan Arntzen, Oswego's next athletic director, was struck by Oraham's attention to detail and planning for the program during the interview process.
“He was able to articulate some things and break down some things and talk to the student-athletes about certain aspects of the game,” Arntzen said. “He came in with a plan of action for what he wanted to see. His attention to detail was phenomenal. You could tell he was one of those people in basketball life. We built a program. We're looking for someone to take us forward and Nick has that fresh vision.”
Oraham said he has already watched a lot more footage of Oswego's program, last year's sophomore team, than the varsity team.
“For me, it's just trying to get buy-in from older guys who have connections with Dasean and have been doing things a certain way for a few years. He and I have had a good relationship so far. I think he continues to connect with young players,” Oraham said. “I continue to learn more about the players, their strengths and weaknesses, connect with other faculty, hear their perceptions of the program, and continue to learn more about how we move forward with things.”