Published: April 29, 2008 12:08 am            

Familiar face to coach Russell boys

Kidwell hopes success with girls will carry over

RUSSELL — Russell High School’s successful girls basketball coach of the past five years hopes to bring similar results to the boys program.

Merle Kidwell, who coached the Lady Devils to a 115-42 record, resigned as girls coach Monday morning and was hired to take over the boys team.

“This wasn’t a quick decision,’’ Kidwell said. “It’s not easy to leave those girls, but I feel we left the program in good shape with six of the top eight players coming back.’’

Kidwell, 41, also has considerable high school coaching experience on the boys level and is looking forward to taking over for Steve Dodd, who resigned on the heels of a 3-26 season.

“I’m must humbled the administration chose me to take the position,’’ Kidwell said. “There are only five schools in the 16th Region with three or more regional titles, Russell being one of them. It’s always been my dream to take a team to the State Tournament, and I think this is a good situation.’’

Former Russell coach Marvin Meredith ranks among the winningest coaches in state history.

“There’s a high standard here, with people like Marv Meredith, Ron Reed and Sam Sparks,’’ Kidwell said.

Kidwell is no stranger to Russell’s boys basketball program. Prior to coaching the girls team, he spent four years as a Red Devil boys assistant under three different head coaches — Sparks, Larry Stamper and Dodd.

Russell principal Allan Thompson pointed to Kidwell’s coaching background at Russell as a strong point.

“He’s been here nine years and done two or three different jobs,’’ Thompson said. “Merle is not an unknown quantity. He has done a nice job with the girls program. This season was probably one of his best from a coaching standpoint because they lost a lot of people from the previous year.’’

Russell’s girls won 17 games and returned to the regional tournament after regional runner-up finishes two of the three previous seasons.

“The girls program has always had success, and I think we maybe took it to another level,’’ he said. “But I was blessed with some very good players. They believed in what we did and I think that translated into our success.’’

Prior to coming to Russell, Kidwell coached the Lewis County boys team for seven years. Before that, the Lewis County grad was a men’s assistant coach at Shawnee State University in 1989 and served as a graduate assistant coach at Morehead State for two years.

“I’m excited,’’ Kidwell said. “I’ve coached men’s and boys teams before and I think that’s what pulled me back into it. Maybe five or six years ago, I was not proven enough to warrant the boys head coaching job here at Russell. The success of the girls’ program may have been important in giving me this opportunity.’’

Kidwell said he plans to adapt Russell’s style of play to the strengths of his players.

“I have no preconceived notion about who is going to play,’’ he said. “I told the kids in our meeting (Monday) that our goal every year is making it to the State Tournament. It might be baby steps at this point, but it’s important for the players to believe in what you are doing.’’

Kidwell said he hasn’t reached this stage of his coaching career without help from others.

“I couldn’t be here without the support of my whole family, especially my parents,’’ said Kidwell, who has two children — Carson, age 7, and Kate, 6.

ROCKY STANLEY can be reached at rstanley@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2671.

        

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