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South County boys basketball's Bryon Graven retires from coaching

He's just 39, but Bryon Graven is hanging up the coaching whistle.

After guiding the South County boys basketball program to its best finish since Franklin and Waverly combined in a co-op, Graven is leaving the profession for a job in the private sector.

"It just felt like the right decision to make," Graven said.

Mount Zion head coach Bryon Graven instructs his team to slow down against Lanphier during the Class 3A Sectional final in Effingham Friday, March 10, 2017. [Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register]
Mount Zion head coach Bryon Graven instructs his team to slow down against Lanphier during the Class 3A Sectional final in Effingham Friday, March 10, 2017. [Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register]

The Vipers finished the 2023-24 season 25-9 overall and 8-1 in the MSM Conference. South County lost to eventual Class 1A state champion Winchester West Central 46-32 in the Liberty Regional title game.

"We had a fantastic year; got beat by the state champs in the regional championship," Graven said. "There was just an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. Things change when you’ve got kids; we have two little ones now and it seemed like the right decision.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. This just feels like the right path for me and my family."

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Graven, a 2003 Auburn High graduate, was 73-63 in five seasons with the Vipers. He also coached at Morrisonville from 2007-09, at Williamsville from 2009-12, then at Norris City-Omaha-Enfield from 2012-15 then went to Mount Zion for four seasons from 2015-2019 and won a 2017 Class 3A regional title there. Graven had a record of 258-227 in 17 total seasons.

In Illinois, the high school basketball season begins in mid-November and ends just before spring in March. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the busiest times of the season with numerous tournaments. It takes a toll, Graven said.

"The thing I might be the most excited about is holidays with my family; not even my immediate family but my extended family," Graven said. "I’ve literally never had what you would call a normal holiday season: I grew up going to the Waverly Holiday Tournament with my dad (former Auburn coach Doug Graven), then you get into high school and you start playing in those same tournaments, and then I played college basketball for four years at Millikin (University in Decatur), and I can’t tell you how many Christmases I was in my car driving back to campus to get in the bus to go on a road trip ... or get on a plane ... and then I got into coaching."

That doesn't mean he won't miss the sport, or the grind.

"I don’t know what it’s like to not have to worry about a practice or a game around Thanksgiving or a holiday tournament or practice the day after family Christmas," Graven said. "I’m kind of excited about it but ... I’m nervous as hell but it’s a good move for me and my family."

He weighed the pros and cons of this decision for a while before finalizing it.

"I didn’t have any intention of getting out before this opportunity presented itself," Graven said. "When this opportunity presented itself, I won’t say it was a no-brainer because it was a lot of sleepless nights and long conversations with my wife. There was a lot of contemplation about disappointing this group of boys, which I did not want to do, but now that I’ve talked to all of them ... they understand.

"I’m not leaving for another coaching position, I’m not leaving to go to another school or what someone would perceive as a ‘better school’ — I’m just hanging it up. I told (his players), I’m ‘retiring.’"

Waverly and Franklin joined the South County co-op in 2015 and later, the junior high programs combined as well. Graven said he's felt a tremendous responsibility to help cement a basketball legacy in the program after taking over for current Carlinville coach Dave Suits.

"We talked about leaving a legacy and that’s something that ‘19-20 group started," Graven said. "Coach Suits did an awesome job bridging that gap and making sure the South County program was bought in by both communities.

"(Seniors) Trevor (Colwell) and Noah (Lyons) re-wrote so many records on our program history webpage."

In 2003, Graven was named The State Journal-Register's Honorary Captain for the All-Area Boys Basketball Team after leading Auburn, coached by his dad Doug Graven, to the Class A Elite Eight.

Graven and his wife, Kelsie, have two children: a son, Huey, and a newborn daughter named Harlowe.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: South County basketball's Bryon Graven exits coaching after 17 seasons