TriCounty

For Manual High School basketball coach Wayne McClain it is three-for-three in Tri-County Male Coach of the Year honors.

In an unprecedented success story, the long-time former Manual assistant coach has been head coach for three seasons and has won three state championships!

Each of the first two won him Tri-County honors and so has the third, the first time anyone has been honored three years in succession.

The 1996-97 season saw Manual go 31-1 to raise McClain's three-year record to an amazing 94-4 (he was 32-2 and 31-1 in his first two seasons). The Rams were 15-1 against ranked teams from eight states.

In the state finals Manual whipped Chicago Young 51-46 in the first round, staged a brilliant rally to down Harvey Thornton 65-62 in the semi-finals and wound up the second state finals played in Peoria with a 47-43 win over Aurora West.

Manual was named the No. 1 team in the nation.