Prospect High School boys volleyball coach and math teacher Mike Riedy, right, is set to retire after this school year. The Knights boys head coach the past 30 years, he has 607 victories entering tonight’s Mid-Suburban League championship game against Barrington. Riedy also won 344 matches as Prospect’s girls coach for 20 seasons. In the foreground is assistant coach Peter King, who will succeed Riedy as head coach.
Courtesy of Scott McDermott
Time is winding down for retiring Prospect High School boys volleyball coach and math teacher Mike Riedy.
“For the most part it just seems like a natural progression,” he said.
First, there is work still to be done.
Prospect (25-8) hosts Barrington Thursday for the Mid-Suburban League championship, before the Knights’ state playoff opener Saturday against Chicago Academy at the Lake Park regional.
Riedy, who turns 60 on June 17, enters the Barrington match with 607 victories over 30 seasons as head coach, among the most wins in state history. He also won 344 matches in 20 seasons coaching Prospect girls.
Former athletic director Dave Good initially asked Riedy to be the head girls coach, though back in 1994 Riedy didn’t think he was ready for it. Good then told Riedy he’d also be coaching the boys team in the spring, Riedy said.
“Like an idiot I took it and ran with it,” he said, displaying his self-deprecating wit.
That first girls team went 2-32, according to Illinois High School Association records. By his fourth season he flipped that to 23-13.
The boys program made an even more smashing turnaround — 11-17 in 1995, 26-9 and fourth in state in 1997.
Riedy is not motivated by trophies. “The epitome of the program,” he said, are the sportsmanship awards given his teams by the IHSA and Zebras of Northern Illinois (ZONI), a volleyball referee organization.
Riedy himself gives back as a girls volleyball referee, which he’ll continue to do in retirement. He introduced Volley for the Cure to Prospect, raising tens of thousands of dollars toward breast cancer research, much of it donated to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
He’s written curriculum used in math classes and has taught in Prospect’s educator pathway program for students interested in teaching, producing many college education majors.
Likewise, by creating positive experiences in volleyball, Riedy has inspired former players to enter coaching themselves. Peter King, Riedy’s 11-year assistant, is a former Knight who will succeed Riedy as head coach.
“I’m incredibly proud of everything I’ve done here, but a lot of people helped me along the way,” Riedy said.
One in particular. Mike and Maria Riedy have been married 32 years.
“She is my rock, she is the one who put up with being a coach’s wife,” Mike Riedy said. “There’s a lot of stuff I’ve missed being a double head varsity coach, and she kept the house in order and raised two wonderful children, and I would be a complete mess without her.”
Riedy soon will make up for lost time. Sort of.
“I’m going to sit around and do nothing and love every minute of it.”
That’s how it’s done
The IHSA championship badminton match in singles went to extra points May 17 at DeKalb High School.
Needing a 2-point margin in the decisive third set, Neuqua Valley freshman Ishi Reddy won 21-13, 18-21, 23-21.
She beat her Wildcats teammate, senior Hannah George.
“Ishi won and Hannah went over to her and gave her a high-five, and then they both embraced in a hug,” said Neuqua sixth-year head coach Nick Benson.
“Then they went over and shook both referees’ hands. Pure class by both the girls.”
Neuqua already had its third state badminton title in hand, Reddy clinching it with a semifinal win over sophomore Adalyn Shum of runner-up Stevenson. Neuqua won with 22 points to Stevenson’s 21.5.
It was only the third time teammates played for the singles title. It was George’s second second-place finish to go with two third-place finishes.
Reddy (41-2) lost one match during the season to George (46-3), who took two losses against Reddy.
“Obviously they’re competitors on the court,” Benson said, “but they are terrific friends and teammates immediately after the match.”
Next level
Orlando Pride defender Kerry Abello, a 2017 Benet Academy graduate from Batavia, earned her first call-up to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.
On Tuesday she was among 24 women named to the team that will play China PR in St. Paul, Minn., on May 31; and Jamaica in St. Louis on June 3.
The first player in Pride history to play 50 consecutive games, Abello has extensive Youth National experience with six prior call-ups, 10 combined caps, and a U-23 camp in 2022.
Regarding U-23, 2024 Olympic gold medalist Korbin Albert of Grayslake was among 20 call-ups Wednesday to the U-23 Women’s National Team. They will camp in Germany from May 26-June 3 and play Germany twice while there.
A midfielder, Albert was a difference-maker for Team USA in Paris. The former Notre Dame All-American scored the eventual winning goal in a 2-1 decision over Australia to become the first United States woman to score her first international goal in the Olympics. She now plays for Paris-Saint Germain.
Chicago Stars forward Jameese Joseph also was called up to the U-23 squad, her third international camp of 2025.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com