As reported on Raccoonvalleyradio.com, the Perry school board Monday night approved the hiring of new varsity boys basketball coach Dennis McDonnell.  The former Iowa Christian Academy coach replaces Ned Menke, who resigned following the school’s second trip to the state tournament this past season.  McDonnell is excited for his second head coaching position.

“I spent last year at Iowa Christian Academy where I was the head coach for 2 years and loved every minute of it and prior to that I served as an assistant at Des Moines North.  So I have seen a variety of kids and that is what I love about coaching.  I love basketball and I enjoy working with all types of kids so I am so excited to be here in Perry and continue to last year’s success.”

McDonnell told RVR that fans can expect a hard nose, full effort style of play when the new season opens up in November.

“I was born and raised in Nebraska but played high school ball at Linn Marr and after that I got a chance to play at Buena Vista and really love the game.  One of the things instilled with me very early was work ethic.  For those of you that will meet me, I am about 5-7 if I’m lucky and not blessed with a lot of natural ability but I worked hard and I love the game and am a team guy first.  I truly am a guy that believes in team first and that is how I was able to play at that level.”

McDonnell has been in Perry the past 2 weeks getting acquainted with the facilities and meeting a lot of last year’s team.  You can listen to the entire introductory interview with Coach McDonnell at raccoonvalleyradio.com.