DECATUR — Three new coaches - for football, girls' basketball and boys' basketball - have been added to the Decatur High School staff, superintendent Larry Ben announced Friday.

Ben introduced two of the three coaches to students and parents at a special meeting on Tuesday morning. He noted that they will not be officially hired until the school board casts a vote on July 18.

Shane Holland will be Decatur's new football and track coach. He will be replacing assistant football coach Beau Collins, who resigned to take a job at another district, and head coach Stan Ellis, who will be retiring from coaching and eventually from teaching.

Holland lives in theJay area. He graduated from Jay High School and holds a master’s degree fromNortheastern University.

Holland brings Decatur 30 years of coaching experience. He has been head coach at Jay (Okla.) High School for the past five years and has also worked as head coach at Grove High School and assistant coach at Tahlequah High School.

While he has seen good years and bad years over the past 30 years, Holland said one of the highlights of his career was winning the district championship with his Jay team two years ago.

It was the first time Jay had won the title in 20 years, he said.

Holland said he plansto start conditioning work with the team today and will be holding workouts Monday through Friday, starting at 7 a.m. until pre-season practice begins.

“I’m excited to be here ” he said

Girls Basketball

Larry Claphan will be the new girls’ basketball and softball coach. Claphan currently resides in the Stillwell area and coaches in Salina. He also has 19 years of coaching experience in the Stillwell School District.

Ben said he was looking to hire a girls’ coach to alleviate some of the pressure on coach Donnie Smith, who coached all Decatur teams from seventh grade on up in addition to teaching. Smith took a job in Lead Hill, leaving the boys’ coaching position open as well.

Claphan told the girls that he emphasizes running and conditioningin his program.

“I like to run, run, run and run some more,” he said.

He toldthe girls he likes players to get physical and work hard, and encouraged them to make the team their family and the basketball court their home.

“Don’t be afraid to get your hair messed up, cause its gonna happen,” he said.

Boys Basketball

The new boys’ basketball coach will be John Unger, who was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

Unger comes to Decatur with four years of experience coaching the Bossier Parish Community College inBossier City, La. Unger also served for three years as the assistant coach at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and worked as a student manager for the University of Arkansas basketball team.

According to his profile on the Bossier Parish Community College website, Unger started his coaching career at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville as an undergraduate, working with College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson. He earned a bachelor of arts in history from the U of A in 2003.

While at Arkansas, Unger was a part of two NCAA top 25 teams, the 2000 Southeastern Conference Tournament champions, two NCAA Tournament qualifying teams, and also worked with two current NBAplayers, Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks and Jannero Pargo of the Chicago Bulls, the site states.

Upon graduation, Unger accepted a job at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, where he also earned a master’s degree in education, specializing in exercise science. He had the opportunity to work with Chad McDowell, the most successful coach among Louisiana basketball coaches this decade, his profile states.

While at LSUS, the team was ranked number one in the NAIA during two seasons, made the NAIA National Tournament two seasons, made the NAIA Sweet Sixteen one season, and had two NAIA All-Americans. The Pilots had an overall record of 76-25 while Unger was there, including a 40-10 conference record over three seasons, according to the profile.

School News, Pages 11 on 07/06/2011