Why this Peoria Manual grad ended up back as Bloomington's basketball coach

The need. The culture. The disappointment.

Micheal Mosley gave those three specifics as reasons he will return as the Bloomington boys basketball coach for the 2024-25 season. The District 87 school board will need to officially rubber stamp the hiring at its April 17 meeting, but the Peoria native is already settling into this familiar role.

He met with the team this past Friday, already began planning open gyms, determined a summer schedule and watched game film over the weekend.

“I am very excited to welcome Dr. Mosley back to our coaching staff at Bloomington High School,” Bloomington athletics director Tony Bauman said in a release. “Not only does he have a wealth of basketball knowledge, but he has a strong desire and commitment to serve and lead our student-athletes within District 87.”

BACKGROUND: How this Peoria native ended up coaching at a small Illinois high school

Now, Mosley returns to Bloomington, which went 0-27 this past season and has lost 28 in a row dating back to the 2022-23 season.

This will be the 1991 Manual grad’s second stint with the Purple Raiders. He coached Bloomington from 2011-19, posting a record of 142-91 (.609) and leading them to a 2017 Class 3A third-place finish.

Seeing his old team post a winless pulled at his heartstrings.

“It’s a challenge,” Mosley said, “and just getting reacclimated is really to just kind of find out what our team strengths are and how we position them into play. I know it’s a lot of talented teams in the Peoria area, right here in (Bloomington)-Normal and even Danville but really, we need to establish what our identity is going to be.

“I’ve always known that it was more than basketball. Just the approach of how other people embrace it and to teach basketball. I think I’m a lot calmer, and I think I’m a lot more focused on the relationship that you establish one-to-one but teaching a team sport. … Not that I wasn’t doing that Heyworth. I just felt the need was a little different and maybe I can make a difference.”

Last season, Mosley guided Heyworth to a 23-win season, while making a Class 1A Elite Eight appearance and taking third place in the Heart of Illinois Conference. The sectional title was the program’s first since a 2014 Class 1A state runner-up finish.

Mosley says it was difficult to leave the Hornets after a season with the bonds he had established, but the players, their parents and the community were very understanding.

“It was something that I really, really struggled with,” he said, “and thought and went back and forth on.”

Upon returning to coaching this past season following a four-year hiatus, Mosley, who is an information security manager for State Farm, was self-reflective in his time back on the bench.

“I learned that the process was more than just me teaching a couple of plays and getting (players) to get stops,” he said. “It was really to get (players) to buy into a collective mindset that really had nothing to do about basketball. It was connecting them with each other and then connecting them on the floor.

“I just learned for myself to be patient and the winning piece kind of takes care of itself. We win by one — competing and playing with a different mindset, then the outcomes came later.”

The new version of Bloomington basketball is taking a wait and see approach. Mosley’s old teams liked to play really, really fast with pace.

Times, though, have changed for the Raiders.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Micheal Mosley instills Peoria Manual values in Bloomington basketball

“This team is different,” Mosley said. “I’ve evolved a little bit and so as we kind of establish that this summer and going into next fall, before the season we’ll kind of dictate that.

“I don’t want to allow the Peoria teams to dictate how we’re going to play or be intimidated by them. Similarly, to Normal Community and the success they’ve had this year and the talent that Normal West has.”

However, that doesn’t mean Bloomington won’t mimic the blue-collar mentality of Peoria basketball.

“We’re going to play hard,” Mosley said. “We’re going to play defense. When you play defense, the object is to speed teams up and to use your athleticism …

“Peoria basketball style is kind of engrained in me. The things that you’re taught by being a native Peorian is that you need to defend, and you need to play aggressive. Those things aren’t going to change. Those are non-negotiables.”

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: Peoria native Micheal Mosley returns to coach Bloomington