Saint Patrick High School basketball coach Mike Bailey celebrates 700th win

Saint Patrick High School in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood finished third in Class 3A last year in what was a historic moment for the basketball program — marking their first ever trip to Champaign.

The Shamrocks are having another great season now, and they celebrated a pretty historic win that put longtime head coach Mike Bailey in elite company in IHSA boys' basketball.

Bailey is currently in his 32nd year leading the program.

"One thing for sure is that we do not like losing at all," said Saint Patrick senior point guard Maurice Neeley. "I think that's kind of what made him like just probably one of the greatest coaches in the Chicagoland area."

It was one of the Shamrocks' 20 wins already Jones College Prep that was extra special this season. It marked Bailey's 700th career win, which his players were prepared to celebrate.

"You know, he kind of tried to run away when he saw us with the Gatorade bucket, but we got him in the locker room — right now, there's confetti and glitter all over the place," said Saint Patrick senior center RJ McPartlin, "so maybe we should have done water."

Bailey was a good sport about it all.

"There's confetti in my office, in my car, I think there's still some in my hair, and all over our house," added Bailey, "but it's good confetti."

Bailey is now one of 29 coaches in IHSA boys' basketball history to reach the feat of 700 wins. Over 600 of those wins, and counting, have been at Saint Pat's.

"It meant the world. to myself. to my family, OK? And I really think, to our school," Bailey said. "So it was a nice milestone when you think about you look at the list of coaches who have passed the 700-win mark, and you say that your name is up with those guys — it's kind of humbling."

If you ask Bailey, winning over 600 games as head coach of the Shamrocks has had nothing to do with luck.

"The secret to winning is this — I always say just get the right people on board with you, whether it's your family — my wife, my son and daughter — the administration and faculty that we have at Saint Pat's, all the great assistant coaches I've had. But most importantly, it's the players and their families," Bailey said. "No coach makes a hall of fame. Players put coaches in the hall of fame."

The Shamrocks are trying to celebrate more with their head coach by ending this year their second-ever state tournament appearance — in back-to-back seasons.

"We just kind of play like with a lot of just team chemistry," Neeley said. "We play hard every possession, don't take no possessions off, kind of just work hard — that's kind of like what our identity is."

"It's a tough journey — we've moved up to 4A basketball from 3A — but it's a journey we've been on before and have done well," said Bailey, "so this team is very capable of doing it."

Saint Patrick's hasn't missed a beat since moving up to 4A. They're currently 23-4, and 7-1 in conference play.