WRMJ spoke with Marshall High School boys basketball coach Darrin Laye after the Commandos won the 2026 IHSA 1A state championship with a 52-44 win over Goreville in Champaign on Saturday.
Marshall, a public school in Chicago, last won a state championship in 2008 in Class 3A. The school’s enrollment has decreased to 197 students for the 2025-26 school year.
Laye speaks about representing the west side of Chicago, carrying the tradition of Marshall basketball that includes Patrick Beverley and the iconic “Hoop Dreams” documentary, and the experience of playing a team from deep southern Illinois that is located more than 325 miles away.