Connel tabbed to take over KHS boys basketball
NEW KHS boys basketball coach Colby Connel is shown instructing his Edmond Memorial team during a timeout. Connel was hired Monday during the June board of education meeting. Connel will also serve as KHS assistant principal. [Photo by Richard T. Clifton]
A recommendation from Dan Hays was good enough for David Glover.
Kingfisher has its new boys basketball coach as the board of education Monday night approved the hiring of Colby Connel.
A former college assistant coach, Connel served the last six years as an assistant coach under Shane Cowherd at Edmond Memorial High School.
Connel will also be the high school assistant principal.
He’ll replace Jared Reese, who went 248-28, advanced to six state tournaments and won four state championships in 10 seasons at KHS before accepting a position at Dover in late April.
“Over the years I have observed how the teams at Kingfisher have operated. I have the hunger and work ethic to carry the torch,” Connel said.
“It’s hard following the footsteps of such a great coach. There are things from the last 10 years that may not be able to be replicated, but I truly believe success can.”
Hays is the longtime Oklahoma Christian University men’s basketball coach.
A hall of famer with 724 career wins, he’s as respected a figure as there is in basketball in Oklahoma.
“Dan Hays told me I was getting a good one,” Glover said about Connel. “I consider that a pretty solid recommendation.”
Connel has been familiar with Kingfisher since at least his high school days.
“This place has been a part of my journey,” he said.
He graduated from Bethany in 2009 and played in the Buckle of the Wheatbelt Invitational during his career.
There’s also a personal connection.
“One of my first memories of dating my wife was sitting in the stands at a Kingfisher tournament game,” said Connel, who along with his wife, Kelley, has two young children and a third on the way.
He played at Southern Nazarene University from 2009-13 and was an assistant there from 2014-16.
The transitory nature of collegiate coaching - as well as the subpar pay - led Connel to seek a better living to support his family.
That landed him at Edmond Memorial, which has reached the state tournament in five of the last six years.
Glover said Connel is “plugged into the basketball scene.”
Still, Connel said he’s been selective in seeking a destination as a head coach.
“I’ve been very picky as to what head coaching jobs I’ve pursued,” he said. “I believe in my abilities even though I’ve never been a head coach.
“I have had fantastic bosses who have been very successful and took the time to pour into me.”
Kingfisher, he said, is the type of place for him.
“I want to be somewhere with winning tradition and realistic views as to the things needed to make that happen,” he said.
“Kingfisher checks all the boxes.”
Connel inherits a team that reached the Class 4A semifinals last year, but graduated the top-seven contributors from that team.
“He’ll have the opportunity here to start this over,” Glover said of Connel.
“My expectations are for him to come in, coach up the kids and to treat them right.”