Toby Tevebaugh graduated from Gentry in 1988 and he's eager to be returning to his hometown as the Lady Pioneers basketball coach.
He was hired in a special school board meeting late last week, replacing Tim Fulks, who resigned late in the school year. The Lady Pioneers advanced to the regional tournament, losing in the first round to 4A state runner-up Ozark.
Tevebaugh got to work on the practice floor already this week, but got a little preview in team camp last week.
"I grew up in Gentry and moved away about 23-24 years and kind of always wanted to come back home," said Tevebaugh, who has been a head coach for 16 years. "It's just been a matter of timing being wrong. When the job opened up, it wasn't a good time to leave where I was at.
"I have two kids that live in Northwest Arkansas. I'm excited about being back, absolutely ecstatic. I got a look sitting up in the stands at the UA team camp last week, but got to work with them on the floor this week."
Tevebaugh spent a year at Pea Ridge (1998-99), 10 at Carlisle (1999-2009), two at Mount Ida and the last four at Paris. He won back-to-back state titles at Carlisle in 2007 and 2008.
He likes the Lady Pioneers' personnel, but says his philosophy begins on the defensive end.
"I'm typically a man-to-man defensive guy and like building from the defensive end first," Tevebaugh said. "That'll be my focus early on. It looks like we have some pretty good material. I think the program is in pretty good shape right now."
Sports on 06/17/2015