Pending school board approval at its July 20 meeting, Chris Nelson will be the next Greene County High School head boys’ basketball coach. Nelson is a 2002 Jefferson-Scranton HS grad, who excelled as a three-point shooting guard for former coach Mike McGinnis, and he played on the last Ram team (’02) to advance to a Substate final.

Nelson has a been a physical education teacher and coach at Glidden-Ralston ever since graduating from Central College in Pella, where he also played basketball. After nine years at G-R, he’s returning to his hometown. “Being a hometown guy, a chance to come back to Jefferson was always something that was an interest of mine, and when the opportunity came up, I looked into it.”

The coach will be moving from a 1A program and the Rolling Valley Activities Conference to a small 3A and the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. “Obviously, there’s a difference in the level of competition. It’s exciting to get back to a little bit bigger style of basketball with bigger gyms and overall better teams. I had a lot of fun over in Glidden, learned a lot, and hopefully we can move some of those things to a little higher level over here.”

Nelson is not only changing conferences and school sizes, he’s changing his everyday occupation. “I got a job at Complete Insurance and have some things to take care of to get licensed. I’m really excited about that new opportunity and know new things can make you a little anxious and a little nervous, but I am really excited to do something different, although I really enjoyed teaching and I loved Glidden-Ralston, a great school. But, for me, it was just time for something new.”

The Rams were 10-11 in 2015-16 under the direction of head coach Jeremy Hinote, and they ended strong with eight wins in their last 11 games. A number of players from that team are eligible to return.