Chicago H.S. Hires Controversial Coach With Troubled Past

Chris Head, the high school basketball coach known for winning as much as for his troubled past, is returning to the court.

Head signed on over the summer with Raby in Chicago, principal Jim Schwartz confirmed Thursday. He is not employed full time, he said.

Schwartz said Head was selected because he "fit with the program."

"We were familiar with him," Schwartz said. "Some of the people in our athletics program have worked with him."

Head's coaching credentials are strong. In four years at Westinghouse, his teams won a state title in 2002 and finished runner-up two years prior. Before that, he had been Westinghouse's sophomore team coach for 12 seasons and an assistant coach at Von Steuben and Farragut.

His last head coaching job in Chicago Public Schools was from 2006 to 2010 at Brooks, where he turned around a program with mostly underclassmen.

But Head's past is marked by controversy and his strong temper.

In January 2010, CPS officials dealt him a two-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct at a basketball tournament where he was ejected after clashing with a referee.

During the 2002-03 season, he was accused of hitting a former player when he coached Proviso West. He was acquitted by a Cook County jury in 2004. He was fired by the Proviso district school board in May 2003 after one season after the Illinois High School Association suspended him for violating season limitation rules and conducting illegal practices. Head could not be reached for comment. Schwartz declined to comment on Head's past.

Raby has not had a competitive basketball program since the school opened in 2004.

To hold practices and coach at games, Head still must be cleared through the CPS sports administration directors' office, a mandatory process for coaches who are not full time staff members, district officials said. Basketball season begins in November.