Farmington hires basketball coach

FARMINGTON — The School Board initiated several changes reflecting the transition in personnel at its June 22 meeting — the last such meeting with Bryan Law as superintendent.

Authorized signatures on the district’s athletic bank account switched from Law and interim athletic director Jon Purifoy to new Superintendent Jon Paul Laffoon and recently hired athletic director Beau Thompson.

Law presented a recommendation to hire Johnny Taylor as head boys basketball coach replacing Thompson.

“He was at Star City. He won two state championships. He has 19 years experience,” Law said.

The board voted unanimously to hire Taylor, who was introduced to the board after the meeting. Taylor is coming from the same school district as Laffoon.

Thompson on Monday said the district received 34 applications for the basketball coach position from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri and Texas.

Thompson said a committee that included him, Purifoy, Laffoon, girls coach Brad Johnson and junior high Principal Joe McClung interviewed three top candidates on June 19.

The committee interviewed Taylor, Adam Simmons, who is the assistant coach for the Farmington boys basketball team, and Jay Osborne, who is basketball coach for Nixa High School in Nixa, Mo.

Along with overseeing the boys’ basketball program for Farmington schools, Taylor also will either teach physical education or health at the junior high school, Thompson said. Simmons will continue as the assistant coach and as a history teacher.

“We were extremely lucky to have the candidates we had,” Thompson said, noting the vacancy opened up late in the year and many coaches already had signed contracts for the next school year. “We’re extremely pleased with the hire.”

In other business at the meeting, Law provided a construction update on the possibility of selling the old home-side football bleachers or dismantling them at Allen Holland Field previously discussed during a May meeting after Decatur contacted Law expressing an interest in acquiring the bleachers.

Law said a purchase agreement with Decatur didn’t work out and a dismantling project was advertised. The district received two bids for removing the bleachers.

“The bids were substantially more than what we wanted to pay,” Law said.

Law recommended the bids be rejected and the board, along with new Superintendent Jon Paul Laffoon, decide what to do regarding the bleachers in the future. The board voted to reject the bids.

Board President Travis Warren inquired if Decatur still had any interest in acquiring the bleachers. Law said indications were Decatur might show interest again in the future.

“I was led to believe the timing would not work for them,” Law said.

Concerns with students or others climbing the bleachers were discussed. Board member Josh Petree inquired about safety aspects of allowing the bleachers to remain in place. Law said bleacher safety wasn’t the main concern.

“It’s a bit of a supervision issue,” Law said. “A lot of our problems tended to be more up toward the press box.”

Board secretary Jeff Oxford favored immediate action.

“We could send our maintenance guys over to take the steps down that go to the press box,” Oxford said.

The board directed Law to have that done.

Law told the board he planned to meet with Laffoon and discuss the bleacher situation.

Mark Humphrey may be reached by email at mhumphrey@nwadg.com. Lynn Kutter contributed to this report.

Taylor