Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale New Shawano Community High School boys basketball coach Dave Ambrosius, left, talks with assistant coach Ron Schmalz after football practice Monday. Ambrosius is an assistant coach with the football team.
Shawano Community High School hired Dave Ambrosius as its new boys basketball head coach, SCHS activities director Charmaine Schreiber confirmed this week.
Ambrosius served as an assistant coach for the Hawks last season.
He will replace Chris Kellett, who went 35-15 in his two seasons with the Hawks before announcing his decision to leave in June.
Kellett took a second-grade teaching job in the Neenah School District and will continue coaching as an assistant at Lawrence University, where he worked for three years prior to coming to Shawano for the head coach position.
In his two seasons with the Hawks, Kellett brought the team to consecutive sectional appearances.
As an assistant coach, Ambrosius said he was able to work the players through the team’s summer league program over the past few months. The transition to the head coaching position could be smooth because of his previous knowledge with the program, which can begin basketball activities on Nov. 16.
“We will change things here and there, but overall, (Kellett) had the program going in the right direction, so we don’t want to reinvent the wheel to some extent,” Ambrosius said. “We want to keep going in that direction.”
Zeke Gueths, a senior center and last season’s leading scorer, believes Ambrosius can continue what Kellett started with the program.
“I think he’s a good hire,” said Gueths, a three-sport athlete at SCHS who has committed to play football at Northern Illinois University next year. “He’s been in the program last year with Kellett, and everyone liked Kellett, and Dave is just another chip off the block.”
Ambrosius inherits a team that went 19-6 in 2014-15 but lost nine seniors. Gueths will return, along with sophomore Eric Carl, who averaged 8.2 points per game. Senior Adam Bartz will likely play in the mix after starting 16 games last season.
“Obviously, he had the program going in the right directions, but I’m also my own coach, so we are going to fine tune some things and do some things a little differently that’ll match my personality and my coaching style,” Ambrosius said.
Ambrosius will finally get to put a stamp on the program after waiting in the wings behind his friend, Kellett.
“He’s always been in Kellett’s shadow,” Gueths said, “so I’m excited to see how he is as a true coach now.”