Last month, Gans Public Schools hired a new football coach — former Muldrow assistant coach Gary Hixon. Now, not only does Hixon have a new assistant coach, but the Lady Grizzlies have a new basketball coach.

Cameron coach Jason Henry was hired as Laney James successor as Lady Grizzlies basketball coach, while he also will be an assistant football coach for the Grizzlies. James took an assistant basketball coaching job at Fort Smith (Ark.) Southside.

“I had a buddy of mine who went up there and applied for it,” Henry said. “He was telling me all the stuff they’re trying to get done. When I went up there and interviewed with Ms. (Regina) Brannon, the superintendent, she is hiring staff and putting sprinkler systems in baseball fields and football fields. She is doing a whole lot for the school and the sports programs. She’s got everybody excited. There’s a lot going on here and a lot of changes happening. I think that’s exciting to be a part of. It just seems to be a great place. I’m excited. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to get in and get some stuff done.”

Henry says there’s just something special about small schools and their athletics.

“I was just at Cameron, and I spent time at Bokoshe and Thackerville,” he said. “I like the smaller school settings. It’s sometimes a lot busier, but you are much more involved in what’s going on.”

Involved he will be as Henry will be the coach of the entire Gans girls basketball program from grades five through 12.

“I’ll get to help build them from the bottom up,” Henry said.

The Lady Grizzlies were 7-15 a season ago.

“(James) did a good job, and I know the girls have some basketball IQ and fundamentals already,” Henry said. “The team is very young, and there’s a lot of young girls playing. So, I think getting in, getting active and getting a lot of fundamentals and practice in is what is going to happen. I’ll get to help build them from the bottom up. The young ladies are excited to do what they’ve been doing. They’re very scrappy and play hard. As long as you play hard, I’m pretty good with it. The only thing I don’t like is the no hustle — that doesn’t sit well with me. There’s a lot of ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘no, sirs.’ It’s sparked a culture up here. As far as the girls are concerned, they’re ready for somebody to come in and help out. They’re ready to come out and play. They’ll come out to the gym when there’s nobody else in there. They’re hungry. It’s a really young team. There’s one returning senior, one or two juniors and a bunch of sophomores.”

For the first time in a while, Henry will get back to being a coach in 8-man football.

“When I was at Bokoshe, we had football,” he said. “It was the second- to-the-last year (of it). I got my introduction to 8-man football at Thackerville, where we had a very successful program. We got to the (state) semifinals twice. To me, 8-man football is just really exciting because at any time if there’s a good block or a broken tackle, it can be a touchdown. For me and my coaching style, it’s something I like a lot more than the 11-man (football). I coached some 11-man at Pocola, but it (8-man football) is a totally different mentality and coaching style. We have a lot of young kids here. Bringing in (new coach Gary Hixon) from Muldrow, who was at Cave Springs in 8-man (football) before, he’s got some experience as well.”

One problem of both Henry and Hixon coming in as late into the summer break as they did was truly getting to know the Grizzlies.

“Getting involved this late, we’re trying to scheme, but at the same time we really don’t know what we have,” Henry said. “We won’t really get to do some football for a while. We sit around and talk about what we might do, but we don’t know what kids will be where. As a coach, you can have all kinds of great ideas, but if (the kids) are going to be successful, you have to coach to the strengths of the kids you have. We have three linemen coming back, and we have a young freshman who may play some quarterback. We have to wait to see what kids we have before plugging them in.”

However, one joy Henry will have will be having his two sons in the Gans athletic program.

“My two sons will be in fifth and sixth grade, and they will get their first chance to play 8-man football,” he said. “They played some in the Poteau league and whenever I coached them at Panama. So, they’ll move over with me and play some 8-man football, basketball and baseball. We’re excited for that opportunity as well. I think they’ll excel at the smaller-school setting a little bit more.”