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Daniel won't return as MCHS hoops coach

3/15/2019

By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor

The Montgomery County High School boys’ basketball team will have a new head coach next season.

Matt Daniel, who took over the program before the 2014-15 campaign, tendered his resignation earlier this week after learning that he would not be offered a new contract.

“I didn’t see this coming,” Daniel said, “but the administration said they wanted to move in a different direction.

“I’m extremely appreciative of the opportunity I’ve had to coach here,” Daniel said. “It’s been a blessing to be here for me and my family.
“There have been good times and some down times, too but to be a part of this community as a whole has been a great experience. We’re just sad we won’t be a part of the future.”

MCHS Athletic Director Kevin Letcher said that he and principal Rocky Franz and others in the administration simply felt like the program was not moving forward like they had hoped.

“Having seven seniors this year certainly factored into the decision,” Letcher said.

Letcher said that moving forward they would be looking for a coach who would integrate themselves into the entire program down to the youth league level.

“Coaching changes are never easy, especially when good people are involved,” he said. “At the end of the day we hope we make decisions that end up being what’s best for everyone.”

Letcher said that the job would be posted immediately and that ideally they would have a coach in place within the next 30 days.
“We’ll hope to avoid a long process,” he said.

Input comes from Franz and Letcher along with the site based council that includes both parents and teachers.

Daniel took over the program and went 16-12 and 21-12 in back-to-back seasons and lost a tough regional semifinal game during his second year.
At the time he took over the program he was the youngest head coach in Kentucky.

In Daniel’s third season the Tribe had a young and relatively inexperienced team and lost leading scorer Brennan Canada, then only a sophomore, early in the year to an injury. Canada didn’t return until the district tournament that season as the Tribe suffered through some major growing pains and went 7-23.

For the 2017-18 season the Indians lost Canada (transfer to Clark County), Jerryd Jones (graduation) and Tucker Norris (decided not to play), their three leading scorers from the previous season but rebounded after losing the first four games and finished 13-16.

This past season the Tribe again started 0-4 but finished up 18-12, although they missed the 10th Region Tournament for the third year in a row.

“I felt like there was growth in the program and that we were looking ahead to having more success on the court in the next few seasons but they didn’t see that growth,” Daniel added.

Daniel ends his tenure at Montgomery County with an overall 75-75 record.

As for his future, Daniel said that after speaking with some of his former players he plans to seek other coaching opportunities.

“We’ve run a program with integrity and honor here and I think that’s greatly needed in high school athletics today,” Daniel said. “We’ve had great young men to work with and I feel like we’ve been able to give them a lot of positive direction toward their futures, based on the feedback we’ve gotten. So I’ll be looking at other coaching opportunities.”

Daniel said he hoped that members of his staff would have opportunities, if they chose, to be members of the program going forward.

“In terms of basketball knowledge and being really great role models for young people, I don’t think you could find a better group of individuals,” he said.

Varsity assistants Dustin High, Lea Prewitt, Collin Jones, Brandon Snowden and Billy Ray Fawns along with veteran freshman coach David Miller had all worked with Daniel for two years or longer.

Daniel and his wife Amber have seen two additions to their family since he took the job here—5-year-old Camdyn and 2-year-old Beckhym.
Amber is a special education teacher in the Montgomery County School System and also assisted with the school’s volleyball program this past year.

“I certainly wish this program nothing but the best,” Daniel said. “When we came here and took the job we’ve been all-in for the school, the program and the community.

“Looking ahead I hope for nothing but the best for this basketball program,” he added.

Matt Daniel played high school basketball for his father at Rowan County High School and then went on to have an outstanding collegiate career at the University of the Cumberlands.

Daniel had been an assistant coach in the program prior to taking the job on the heels of the Tribe having had four different coaches over the previous four seasons.

Keith Greisser succeeded long-time coach Bart Rison back before the 2007-08 season and guided the program for four years before Tony Wise, now the coach at Franklin County, took over for the 2011-12 campaign, going 18-11.

Happy Osborne, currently an administrator at Clark County and a highly successful collegiate coach at Georgetown was on hand for the 2012-13 season when the Indians reached the semifinals of the state tournament and then Jason Holland guided the Tribe to a 29-3 campaign the following year before leaving.

Daniel took over the following year and when he was hired became the program’s fifth head coach in a five-year stretch—Greisser, Wise, Osborne, Holland and Daniel.