| Chaffee
resigns as boys basketball coach
Kevin Chaffee turned in his resignation from the Prairie boys basketball coaching position last week. He spent 15 years on the sidelines as a coach, taking the JV position when Jerry Uhling was head coach. Chaffee said Uhling had asked him to help out with coaching his players on defense a couple years earlier and when the JV position opened up he applied and received the position although he admitted there were some concerns about his intensity. He stayed in the JV position when Teel Bruner took over as head coach and was an assistant through 3 state championships in 2010, 2014 and 2015. When Bruner stepped down after the 2015-16 season, Chaffee applied for the post and took the head coaching job. In 3 years as head coach his teams played for the District championship twice, winning once, and finished second, fourth and first at State. Prairie has been to State 6 straight years and 9 of the last 11 years after a 27 year drought. Prairie has won 5 state titles in their history and Chaffee is the common thread through all 5 as he played for the 1982 champions and was a coach for the other 4. Chaffee said his high school coach, Alan Felgenhauer, stressed defense and that has always been a big part of his coaching philosophy. “Defense wins championships.” Chaffee said it was time to turn the reins over to someone else. |
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