During a regular meeting on June 11, the Proviso Township High Schools District 209 Board of Education voted 3-0 in favor of hiring Dwon Kelly to replace Anthony Longstreet as the Head Varsity Boys Basketball Coach at Proviso West High School.
Kelly, the son of longtime D209 board member Theresa Kelly, was an assistant coach under Longstreet. Citing her conflict of interest, Theresa Kelly abstained from voting.
Board President Ned Wagner, along with members Rodney Alexander and Della Patterson voted in favor of the hire while board members Sam Valtierrez and Amanda Grant abstained. Board member Claudia Medina was absent.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Longstreet spoke for three minutes about why he should continue in the head coaching position. In addition, two former players and a fellow coach spoke favorably of him.
According to MaxPreps, the Panthers had an overall record of 4-21 during the 2018-19 season. They went 0-12 in conference play.
Longstreet was hired to coach at West in 2017. Before coaching at West, he was a coach at Crane and Manley. At Crane, Longstreet went 268-100 over the course of 13 years, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Michael Romain
