{"id":24242,"date":"2016-01-19T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T18:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=24242"},"modified":"2016-01-19T12:23:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T18:23:05","slug":"whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitney Young Dolphins coach Irvin joins the 400-wins club"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aishwarya Kumar Lakshminarayanapuram<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next to a toy truck and a bowl of vending machine-friendly nickels and quarters on her desk, Corry Irvin keeps a half dozen photos of her Whitney Young Dolphins winning the 2013 state title and a paper that says, \u201cDon\u2019t quit until you make an impact on the future of women\u2019s basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mom of three young sons and the coach of 15 teen girls won her 400th game on January 12 and became only the 11th woman in Illinois girls\u2019 basketball history to achieve this feat. <\/p>\n

But she has no plans to leave the sport behind. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to go for another 400!\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

After the matchup against North Lawndale, which ended with a layup by point guard Kiara Lewis, she smiled at the scoreboard. It read 61-51. <\/p>\n

Her secret to success? <\/p>\n

\u201cMy main [values] are to have high expectations, to put the players in those positions to meet those high expectations, and to strive and work hard throughout,\u201d Irvin said.<\/p>\n

Irvin, a 6-foot-3 former point guard for Fresno State University, would \u201cmake each team strive and earn their respect and success so they know that it is not given to them because of past success,\u201d said Amanda Thompson, a former Atlanta Dream and Whitney Young point guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coaches, players, teachers and fans talk about how Irvin balances her time between her 2-, 3- and 5-year-old sons and a court full of teenagers without taking time off for herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer kids are always at the game alongside her, and so she knows she can focus on her \u2018children\u2019 on the court,\u201d said Joyce Kenner, principal of Whitney Young.<\/p>\n

Known for shouting instructions while running up and down the court, Irvin occasionally still gets upset with referees over bad calls and with players over their mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a lot less frustrated now,\u201d said Dorothy Gaters, the head basketball coach at Marshall Metropolitan High School, who reached her 1,000th career win last season. \u201cShe is calmer now because she has come to the realization that there will be good plays and bad plays, and she cannot control everything that\u2019s happening on the court.\u201d <\/p>\n

Irvin tries to develop her players\u2019 \u201cbasketball IQ\u201d off the court, which has helped them perform better on the court, said Jonathan Mandeldove, the head girls\u2019 basketball coach at Al Raby High School.<\/p>\n

She is known for talking her players through academic and personal troubles. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you\u2019re a part of this family, you\u2019re a Dolphin forever,\u201d said Dee Hawkins, a former Whitney Young point guard who played for Virginia Tech University from 2010 to 2014.<\/p>\n

She even looks to her old prot\u00e9g\u00e9s for inspiration. <\/p>\n

\u201cI usually talk to former players [such DePaul starter Chanise Jenkins and former WNBA star Amanda Thompson] or watch tapes of old games to see what new techniques I can try to make it click with the current team and that has helped me a lot in the past,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Gaters, who has watched Irvin grow as a coach, said she was somber when she interacted with opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t talk, definitely not to me,\u201d Gaters said with a smile. \u201cWe just shake hands at the end of the game, mutual respect and that\u2019s it\u2026.She is well-prepared, she knows what she is doing, she is tenacious.”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Whitney Young Dolphins\u2019 coach Corry Irvin talks to her team during half-time against North Lawndale High School January 12. (Aishwarya Kumar Lakshminarayanapuram\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aishwarya Kumar Lakshminarayanapuram Next to a toy truck and a bowl of vending machine-friendly nickels and quarters on her desk, Corry Irvin keeps a half dozen photos of her Whitney Young Dolphins winning the 2013 state title and a paper that says, \u201cDon\u2019t quit until you make an impact on the future of women\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":24247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[719,596],"class_list":["post-24242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-corry-irvin","tag-whitney-young"],"yoast_head":"\nWhitney Young Dolphins coach Irvin joins the 400-wins club - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whitney Young Dolphins coach Irvin joins the 400-wins club - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Aishwarya Kumar Lakshminarayanapuram Next to a toy truck and a bowl of vending machine-friendly nickels and quarters on her desk, Corry Irvin keeps a half dozen photos of her Whitney Young Dolphins winning the 2013 state title and a paper that says, \u201cDon\u2019t quit until you make an impact on the future of women\u2019s […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-19T18:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Featured-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"822\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"aishwaryakumar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aishwaryakumar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/\",\"name\":\"Whitney Young Dolphins coach Irvin joins the 400-wins club - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Featured-image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-19T18:23:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/07e4f1df7db128d698340352e7005f42\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/whitney-young-dolphins-coach-irvin-joins-the-400-wins-club\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Featured-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Featured-image.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":822,\"caption\":\"Whitney Young Dolphins\u2019 coach Corry Irvin talks to her team during half-time against North Lawndale High School January 12. 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