Why this hall of fame coach returned to Peoria-area high school basketball

Basketball remains an avenue that continues to get the best out of Kevin Metzger’s willingness to give back.

The longtime Peoria-area high school hoops coach will take the bench this upcoming season as a varsity girls assistant to the new Dunlap coach Becky Fulkerson. Metzger last season served as an assistant on the Illinois Central College women’s basketball staff.

“I’ve coached for quite a while,” he said. “I still feel that I have something (of) value that I can pass along to kids, pass along to other coaches that I can use my past experiences and try to help them also along with the way.”

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Fulkerson — who coached against Metzger’s Limestone teams when she was at Pekin — contacted him while going through the interview process with Dunlap. She had floated the idea if she was hired, would Metzger be interested in possibly joining her staff as the varsity assistant.

The 2023 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association hall of famer jumped at the opportunity.

“I thought it was going to be a workable situation,” said Metzger, who retired from teaching seven years ago. “A situation where I could continue to coach, continue to help young kids and hopefully, develop their game.”

Now, he adds yet another chapter to his journeyman-like career.

Before graduating from Woodruff in 1974, Metzger had set the goal to be a teacher and coach. He accomplished those ambitions, first acting as an Illinois State graduate assistant for a season before returning to his alma mater for six years as an assistant boys coach and teacher.

Following a two-year stint as an East Peoria boys assistant, Metzger took over the Raiders program in 1991-92. EP’s battles with the Wayne McClain-led Manual four-peat teams in the mid-1990s are still a thing of Peoria basketball lore. His 13-year tenure at East Peoria included 212 wins and three consecutive Class AA regional titles.

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Metzger then added 168 more victories and a 2013 Class 3A regional plaque to his resume as the Limestone head girls coach, then was a Richwoods girls assistant on the 2018 3A state championship team before going to ICC.

“Coaching’s been in my blood for a long, long time,” Metzger said. “I still want to be around the game.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Kevin Metzger hired as assistant for Dunlap girls