Far from Pauley Pavilion in sun-kissed Los Angeles, where Larry Farmer played for the greatest dynasty in college basketball history, he is preaching the gospel of his iconic coach, John Wooden, to high school girls in a small gym in frostbitten Lake Forest. Farmer, 73, is in his third season as coach at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls school renowned for its academic environment. Woodlands, with an enrollment of 249 students, has been ranked the No. 1 all-girls high school in Illinois for eight straight years by the independent academic research organization Niche. “One of the huge differences between this year and my first year is then we barely had enough to make a team and often I had to make two practice plans,” Farmer said. “One was if we had 10 girls so we could scrimmage. The other was to do full-court drills four-against-four. “Now we have 21 girls on varsity and junior varsity — the most I’ve ever had come out. That’s the kind of growth I was looking for.” Because of Farmer’s high profile as a college player and coach when he took the job, some of the students hoping to be admitted to academically prestigious colleges were leery. “My first year I had to let them know that this is high school basketball, not Division I college basketball.” he said. “I think a lot of girls were afraid if they played, the emphasis was going to be on basketball not school. “I had to convince the girls you can be a great student and still enjoy athletics. They all were surprised when Coach Farmer told them: ‘If you have to study, you don’t have to be at practice; if you want to talk to a teacher, you can be late for practice.’ “They learned over time that my No. 1 priority is school. In addition, by word of mouth, girls saying they were having fun helped our numbers grow.  We lost six seniors and a lot of these girls are playing basketball for the first time.” Farmer is proud that the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association presented Woodlands with a third-place All-State Academic Award in Girls Division II in recognition of “outstanding academic achievement” during the 2023-24 season. While academics is Farmer’s priority, he and his assistants, Brendan Bond and Shao-Yun Guo, focus during practices and games on bringing out the best in the girls on the court. The speed of the game is significantly slower than in college basketball because there is no shot clock. Dunking is nonexistent. And girls and young women have different temperaments than boys and young men. Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart girls basketball coach Larry Farmer huddles with his team during a game against Rochelle Zell Jewish High School on Dec. 16, 2024, in Lake Forest. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart girls basketball coach Larry Farmer watches from the sideline during a game against Rochelle Zell Jewish High School on Dec. 16, 2024, in Lake Forest. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Nevertheless, the fundamentals and approach to the game that Wooden instilled in Farmer at UCLA and that Farmer passed on to college players during four decades of coaching — as men’s head coach at UCLA, Weber State and Loyola; in Kuwait as a club team and national team coach; and as an assistant at UCLA, Rhode Island, Hawaii, North Carolina State and Western Michigan — still apply. “He’s really patient with us,” said Faith Guerra, a junior guard from Waukegan. “He always talks about the fundamentals and he tells us to set goals for ourselves and our team.” Said Lauren Janos, a junior forward from Lake Forest: “He has created a competitive atmosphere for our basketball program at practice and in games. We learn a lot not only about his coaching style, but also Coach Wooden’s. He often references the pyramid of success — Wooden’s list of 25 behaviors designed to create a championship mindset and meaningful life, things that apply on and off the court.” Added Dyana Santoyo, a senior guard from Chicago: “Every day he is passing on all that knowledge to us.” Farmer retired from college coaching in 2018 after a second stint as an assistant at Western Michigan, and during the COVID-19 pandemic he wrote a book titled, “Role of a Lifetime: Larry Farmer and the UCLA Bruins.” “After that book the juices were flowing again, and I decided I wanted to pursue being a high school coach,” he said. “That always had been a goal. UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, left, holds the game ball as he leads his players, including Larry Farmer, right, off the floor after beating Notre Dame for a record 61st consecutive win on Jan. 27, 1973, in South Bend, Ind. (AP) Loyola’s David Bailey (12) talks it over with coach Larry Farmer during a game against UIC on Jan. 22, 2003. (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune) “My goal after college had been to play in the NBA and after that go back to school, get a teaching credential and then become a high school coach and work my way up the ladder to become a college coach, but the good Lord had a better plan. I was cut by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and two days after what I had thought was the worst day of my life, Coach Wooden called and asked if I wanted to be the graduate assistant coach on his staff at UCLA. That gave me a year of college coaching experience.” The next season Farmer went to Germany to play professionally for ADB Koblenz in the Bundesliga. “That got the professional basketball bug out of my system,” he said. “Coach Wooden retired (after winning his 10th NCAA championship) and Gene Bartow was hired to replace him. Coach Bartow wanted to hire a former UCLA player who had coaching experience as an assistant, and that one year of experience as a graduate assistant put me in the forefront. Instead of starting as a high school coach, I skipped that and joined Coach Bartow’s staff.” Being an assistant coach and a head coach took Farmer from coast to coast and to the Persian Gulf. He kept his home in Gurnee after coaching Loyola from 1998-2004 and spending three years as an ESPN commentator so his son, Larry III, and daughter, Kendall, could complete their education. In Farmer’s opinion, “Having a daughter helped me for this experience.” His program is a work in progress. Woodlands had a 10-12 record his first year and a 10-15 record last season, winning two state tournament games before losing in the regional final. Six seniors graduated, and this season’s team is off to a 2-3 start after a 32-21 victory over Schaumburg Christian on Dec. 19. “We’ve struggled because of our inexperience,” Farmer said. “Some of these girls are playing basketball for the first time.” Coach Larry Farmer works on blocking-out drills with his team during a practice at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart on Dec. 11, 2024, in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Farmer can relate to that because he struggled throughout his first season of basketball as a sophomore at Denver’s Manual High School. He was on the end of the bench and played only when his team was far ahead or far behind. He decided to quit when the season ended. But when the Manual varsity went to the state tournament, the coach promoted four players from the junior varsity to make the trip, and four sophomores were promoted to the junior varsity to replace them.  For Farmer that meant moving up in the sophomore team pecking order “from the 12th guy to the eighth guy.” Late in the last game of the season, Farmer got to play. The ball came to him in scoring position, he shot and it went in. It happened a second time and again the ball went in. And a third time with the same result. That 3-for-3 shooting performance for a career-high six points drew sophomore coach Julie Yearling’s attention. When the team returned to Manual from the road game, Yearling came to him and said: ‘Larry, you worked hard and didn’t complain about not playing. By far this was your best game. If you work really hard over the summer, there’s a good chance if you come back you’ll make the junior varsity.” Said Farmer: “That was the encouragement I needed not to quit. The next season as a JV player after about three or four games, I went from second string to starting, and after about three more games the varsity coach called me in and told me they were moving me up to the varsity. I was reluctant and said: ‘Coach, I don’t want to be on the varsity. I’m just now getting minutes (on the JV team).’ “But he told me: ‘We’re not moving you up to sit on the bench,’ and after a couple of games I was starting for the varsity.” In Farmer’s senior year, Manual went to the Colorado state finals and he was an all-state player. At the start of that season, Farmer wasn’t considered a top college prospect, but by the end of the year several major colleges were pursuing him. When UCLA offered a scholarship, it was a dream come true. At that time, college freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition. Farmer was selected the most valuable player on the freshman team after averaging 21.5 points and 14.7 rebounds. He was a starter for much of his varsity career, playing for three NCAA championship teams that compiled a composite record of 89-1, making him the most successful player in college basketball history. During his last two years the Bruins went undefeated, and when he was a senior Wooden selected him as the Bruins captain. “I was the garbage man,” said Farmer, who averaged 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds during his varsity career. “Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes were the guys I looked to pass to.” Walton, the late superstar, saw him in a different light. In his words, “Larry was a critical component of our team.” Larry Farmer, coach of the Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart girls basketball team, high-fives Eloise Li during practice on Dec. 11, 2024, in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Although the students at Woodlands were born long after Farmer made a name for himself in college, they soon found out the new coach had an extraordinary resume. “It’s incredible that he’s here,” said Lucy Petherbridge, a senior center from Wilmette. “He has a great history. With his coaching he not only gives us basketball experience but life experience as well.” The esteem in which Farmer is held isn’t limited to the Woodlands community.  A couple of the parents of Rochelle Zell Jewish High School players had a request for Farmer after the visiting team was a recent winner there: They wanted to have their picture taken with him. Despite the loss, Farmer put on a happy face and obliged. Neil Milbert is a freelance writer who covered sports during his 40-year career with the Chicago Tribune.