When Jennifer Urban arrived at Naperville North in 2003, she didn’t know she would soon receive the opportunity of a lifetime.
Urban, a 1998 graduate of Waubonsie Valley who played volleyball at Northern Illinois, began her coaching career with the Huskies’ freshman B team. But Hall of Fame coach Ric Krebs, who started Naperville North’s program in 1975, retired at the end of the season, and Urban was hired to replace him.
“I walked into a dream situation,” Urban said. “I was very grateful to have had that opportunity at a young age. It truly has been a dream job, which makes it so hard to step down because I’m so proud of what’s been accomplished at Naperville North from the beginning.”
Urban, 44, announced her decision to step down from the job last week. She had a 571-184 record in 21 seasons, during which the Huskies won 11 regional titles and one sectional title. Her 2022 team, which went 35-4 and reached the sectional finals, is tied for the second-most wins in program history.
Urban, who is the daughter of Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Robert Scarpino, finishes with a winning percentage of 0.756, 32 points higher than that of Krebs.
“It is a tradition of excellence,” Urban said. “I have always had the support of the administration at the school.
“I have a wonderful coaching staff around me who are some of my closest friends, so it was extremely hard to have that conversation (about leaving) with them.”
Urban has a son in seventh grade and a daughter in fourth grade. Her husband, Dan, is the boys golf coach at Wheeling. Balancing her coaching career with family life became too much.
“Both of us coaching in the fall was not sustainable,” Urban said. “It was more manageable when I was younger.”
First-year Naperville North athletic director Jon Pereiro lauded Urban’s accomplishments.
“I’m glad that I got to work with her for a season,” Pereiro said. “I wish I could work with her more, but I deeply understand her reasons for taking a step away.
“It was really cool seeing her in action, her passion for the game, her passion to be able to take kids from where they are to where they could be, and to build a team.”
Brie Isaacson, who stepped down as Naperville Central’s coach last week, said Urban was a master team-builder.
“She did a phenomenal job of maximizing her team’s abilities,” Isaacson said. “The hard thing about high school athletics is that unlike the private schools, for us it’s where you live and where you were born. I have so much pride in taking what you’re given and making it the best that it can be. That looks different every year. Her teams are always competitive.”
Isaacson always enjoyed her coaching matchups with Urban.
“She is incredibly fiery and feisty,” Isaacson said. “If you watch her, her body is whipping with every play. Literally every time we played, you knew you were going to get a super high-quality match.”
That was true even when Urban’s teams lacked star power, which was the case this season. The Huskies (20-16) won 10 of their last 15 regular-season matches before losing to Naperville Central 29-27, 25-23 in the regional semifinals.
“We had some bumps early on, and she was able to build them to really play better than anybody really thought,” Pereiro said. “It’s a testament to what she has done for her entire career.
“She’s fought the fight and battled those battles and done some really amazing things with a lot of kids in our programs.”
Some of those kids have followed Urban, who was also an assistant for the boys team, into coaching. Two of her former players, Jenna LaCorte and Matt Hasse, are on Naperville North’s staff. Another Naperville North graduate, Nate Bornancin, is Urban’s varsity assistant.
Replacing Urban will be Pereiro’s first major hire as athletic director.
“We’re looking for the best candidate to be able to work with our kids to take them to the next level and build on the foundation she has built for North volleyball,” Pereiro said. “It will be a robust interview process.”
Urban and Isaacson began their coaching careers at the same time and are exiting together.
“The amount of athletes that she’s made better players and better humans is in the thousands,” Isaacson said. “There’s not a lot of people that can say that.
“She’s just had such an incredible impact on that program and in the community. I’m just super grateful that I got to be friendly competitors with her, but also be her friend.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
