Aztec Hires Tom Shields

Tom Shields is the new girls basketball coach at Aztec High School.

Shields was Piedra Vista's athletic director for one before resigning. Shields told me he missed coaching. He started at a Catholic junior high when he was 17 and last year was the first year since then he hasn't coached. He said the administrative duties at PV were too extensive for him to coach also, and he really missed it.

"Coaching basketball has been such a big part of my life. I missed it terribly this year and getting back to that was really a priority," Shields said.

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By the Numbers

Record: 432-222
Years Coaching: 26
State Championship Appearances: 5
State Championships: 1
Illinois District Coach of the Year awards: 10
Teams ranked in the national Top 25: 4
National high school championships: 1
Division I players coached: 26
NBA players coached: 1

Shields provided me with a list of the players he's coached that have gone on to play Division I basketball.

Division I Players

John Battle -- University of Illinois Chicago
Tommy Brown -- University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Ronny Virgil -- Iowa State University
Renard Edwards -- Creighton University
Douglas Johnson -- Florida International University
Michael Parker -- Eastern Washington University
John Culbertson -- Iowa State University
Illya McGee -- Akron University
Albert Jones -- Akron University
Joe Jackson -- University of Illinois Chicago
Lowell Hamilton -- University of Illinois
Randy Brown -- New Mexico State University
Jerry Vanderhyte -- Creighton University
Scott Peterson -- Northern Illinois University
Jimmy Sanders -- DePaul University
Billy Keys -- Northeastern Illinois University
Joel Bullock -- University of lllinois Chicago
Michael Herman -- Indiana University
Keith Stanton -- Dartmouth University
Cyim Cunningham -- Appalachian State University
Greg Wood -- Northern Iowa University
Tywon Burnam -- Northern Illinois University
Jesse Mackinson -- Eastern Illinois University
Jason Telford -- Loyola University
Julian Jones -- Western Illinois University

* Randy Brown, who graduated from NMSU, played 12 seasons in the NBA and won titles on the dominant Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls teams of 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98. The 1995-96 team won a record 72 games and is considered the best team in NBA history.

According to basketball-reference.com, Brown played in 68 of 82 games and averaged 2.7 points, 1.1 assists, 1.0 rebounds and 0.8 steals.

* USA Today ranked Shields' Providence-St. Mel team No. 1 in the nation in 1985. Star center Lowell Hamilton was rated the top college recruit that same year. Hamilton started all four seasons at the University of Illinois, leading the team to a No. 1 ranking during the 1988-89 regular season as co-captain. The Fighting Illini lost in the Final Four to eventual national champion Michigan.