Last week was quite hectic for Rick Romeli.
On June 2, Romeli was named Brother Rice’s basketball coach, leaving his alma mater — Marian Catholic — after two seasons. Two days later, he was leading his new team against a pair of Catholic League rivals.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Romeli said. “I spoke with the team at Marian on Monday, was introduced to the team at Brother Rice on Tuesday and on Wednesday we were hosting summer league games against Mount Carmel and Leo.
“We pretty much played without any practices, but as a coach, you kind of get used to that craziness.”
Romeli went 48-19 with the Spartans, winning back-to-back regional titles but losing in the sectional semifinals in both seasons, including to Brother Rice in 2023-24.
Leaving his alma mater certainly wasn’t in Romeli’s offseason plans, but his phone started ringing when Brother Rice went into an unexpected coaching search following the resignation of Conte Stamas in May.
“I actually didn’t apply for the Brother Rice job,” Romeli said. “It more so came out of some phone calls I had with alums and people over there. Sean McBride, the athletic director, I’ve known him for a while. We played baseball against each other growing up.
“It kind of went from there and the stars all aligned.”
Ultimately, Romeli felt the combination of taking over a tradition-rich program at Brother Rice and being closer to his home in Palos Heights was too good to pass up.
“It was very difficult,” Romeli said. “I definitely appreciate the opportunity that Kevin Kelly, who was athletic director at Marian at the time, gave me, and then working with Mike Taylor as the AD was great.
“It wasn’t something where I was like, ‘Hey, I want to leave this place.’ Marian’s a special place. Just the fit and the opportunity seemed to make a lot of sense for me at this time.”
Stamas stepped down after going 92-16 over three seasons and leading the Crusaders to a Class 3A runner-up finish in 2024-25.
Romeli knows there will be high expectations on his program.
“They’ve had some great coaches recently in coach (Pat) Richardson, coach (Bobby) Frasor and then obviously with what Conte was able to do the past couple years,” Romeli said. “They’re definitely big shoes to fill, but hopefully we’ll be able to carry on that tradition.”
McBride, who is also the Crusaders’ baseball coach and conducted the coaching search in the middle of leading his team into Monday’s supersectional game, is confident that Brother Rice has found the right person to do just that.
“We are excited to welcome coach Romeli to the Brother Rice family,” McBride said. “His proven track record of success, combined with his commitment to developing young men both on and off the court, makes him the ideal fit to lead our basketball program forward.”
Romeli played college basketball right down the street from Brother Rice at St. Xavier and served as an assistant coach at the college for nine seasons, then spent nine more seasons as an assistant at Governors State before landing his first head coaching job at Marian.
He had two Brother Rice alums as roommates at St. Xavier and joked that he almost got tired of hearing about the Crusaders from them.
“Those guys were very passionate about the school,” Romeli said. “I received calls from them before I took the job where they were trying to give Brother Rice a nod and telling me it was a great place to be.”
That passion drew in Romeli. He can’t wait to coach in front of the Crusader Crazies student section and packed gyms on the South Side.
“I’m excited to get the opportunity to join a program with a great tradition and the amount of support they receive from the community and alumni,” he said. “Basketball is definitely important at Brother Rice, and that’s the type of program I look forward to being a part of.”