A new era in McDonald County High School basketball will begin next season under the direction of Brandon Joines.
Though Joines comes to McDonald County from Jefferson High School in Festus, Mo., he is no stranger to southwest Missouri.
Joines is a 2004 graduate of Webb City High School and a 2008 graduate of Missouri State University.
After college, he began his coaching career as an assistant girls' coach at Fox High School in Arnold, Mo., before returning to southwest Missouri as an assistant girls' coach at Republic. He was at Republic for five years before taking the head girls' job at Jefferson, where he has been for the last four years.
"I am glad to get back in southwest Missouri," Joines said. "I have family in Webb City, so it cuts the drive time down from four and a half hours to 30 minutes."
Joines said being that far away, he doesn't know much about the returning players at MCHS.
"I know we have a lot of underclassmen who got experience at the varsity level last year," Joines said. "We are going to build on that experience and hopefully make some progress and some big leaps and get that record back to where we want it. We have been in a little bit of a drought here and our goal, myself and coach Crane, is to rebuild and get back on track."
Coach Crane is Sean Crane, the Mustangs' new assistant. Crane is a graduate of Wheaton High School and Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
Crane began coaching while in college, where he was an assistant at Verona High School. From there he was an assistant for three years at Bronaugh and for four years as head boys' at Golden City.
Joines said he stresses defense and likes to play full-length court pressure defense.
"For the most part, we will play man defense," Joines said. "We will be heavy pressure all around the ball. I am big on accountability and that type of philosophy helps the kids build a character of 'Hey, everybody has to step up and play their role.' I know we are going to be OK and we are going to have athletes step up into that position and work hard and have the energy we need to stay focused. We bring a press -- we are full court -- and I don't back off."
Joines said this summer's workouts will include a lot of open gyms in addition to one camp that he has scheduled.
"We will try to do a couple of shoot outs towards the end of summer to see where we are at," Joines said. "That way, going into the season, we will have a better feel for exactly what we need to work on."
Joines and his wife, Cortney, have two children. Jett is five-years-old and Dash is one.
"I am extremely grateful to everyone for the opportunity," Joines said. "I am excited to get started."
Sports on 05/23/2019