July 1, 2015

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois – The Champaign Swarm, 2015 Midwest Professional Basketball Association (MPBA) Champions, have hired veteran local coach and administrator John Spezia to be the team’s next Head Coach and General Manager. 

Spezia replaces Chris Daleo as head coach.  Daleo went 15-5 in the Swarm’s inaugural regular season, and then defeated the Bloomington (Illinois) Flex and St. Louis RiverSharks in the MPBA playoffs to win the league’s first-ever championship.  Daleo is expected to become a head coach in another league.  Spezia will also assume General Manager duties, replacing Jim Sheppard, who resigned last month.

Spezia brings more than thirty years of basketball experience in an impressive array of roles, including a hall-of-fame career as a national champion junior college coach with Danville Community College, NCAA Division I assistant coach at Valparaiso University, international coach, youth coach, scout, administrator, and youth/college/pro camp instructor and director in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and the Philippines.  He was also named National Junior College Division II Athletic Director of the Year, and twice earned National Junior College Division II Coach of the Year honors.

Spezia has given presentations to several foreign government sports councils on sports tourism and youth sports development, and has served as assistant EuroBasket Summer League camp director and coach.  Spezia has racked up more than 500 victories as a high school, college and professional coach, and as an individual shooting instructor, helped more than 200 athletes earn college scholarships.

Spezia has served as a member of the MPBA Board of Directors since the league’s inception last summer, and recently retired as athletic director and head basketball coach at Milford High School, where he led the Bearcats to a 25-2 overall record and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015.

“I’m thrilled to be back in professional basketball,” said Spezia.  “I first looked at this a year ago, but wanted to honor my commitment to Milford. It’s exciting to be involved with a pro league that has a true vision for developing young talent and an expectation of being involved in the community.

“This is my back yard, so we will be involved with service clubs, in schools, and all over.  My staff and my team will be very accessible to the community,” Spezia added.

As part of hiring Spezia, the Swarm are proud to incorporate his Reach 1 Coach 1 youth camp program, which will start next week at Leonhard Recreation Center in Champaign.  A two-day co-ed shooting camp will take place July 6-7 for kids entering grades 5-8.  Another co-ed shooting camp will be held on July 7-8 for kids entering grades 9-12, and then, on July 11, Spezia will direct an Elite Camp for boys entering grades 9-12.

In conjunction with Reach 1 Coach 1, Niemann Foods/County Market are donating $1,000 in scholarship money for kids from the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club and the Champaign Parks and Recreation District to be able to attend free of charge.  The Swarm and the MPBA are matching the donation for an additional $1,000 in scholarships.

“I’ve known John Spezia a long time,” said C. Edward “Ed” Schumer, Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the MPBA. “In addition to the national and international presence that he’s brought us as a member of our Board of Directors, he also brings a proven record as a coach at every level.  He will be an asset to the Swarm and to the Champaign-Urbana community, and I’m proud to have him in the league,” Schumer said.