Kalsto to take over Lions' hoop job

LAMOILLE — Brent Kalsto landed the physical education teaching job at LaMoille High School in July. On Monday night, he added to his job description.

As previously reported on bcrnews.com, Kalsto was named as the new varsity boys’ basketball coach for the LaMoille/Ohio Lions co-op at Monday’s LaMoille School Board meeting. He succeeds Terry Nelson, who departed after four years to take over as head coach at St. Bede Academy.

Kalsto, 33, coached eighth-grade boys’ basketball the past four years at Putnam County Junior High School in McNabb. He said he is excited to come to LaMoille and get his first taste of varsity basketball and the atmosphere that comes with it.

“Being my first (varsity job) and being up at the next level, I’m just excited for the Friday nights,” Kalsto told the BCR Monday afternoon. “We had a pretty good following at junior high at our place. Brent (LHS athletic director Ziegler) talked about how they filled the place there. I’m looking forward to that.

“I don’t know much about the team I’m going have there. I’ll do the best I can to get them ready fundamentally. We’ll play hard and see how far that takes us.”

Kalsto will make his debut as Lions coach on Nov. 30 back home against his alma mater, Serena, in Little Ten Conference play.

“When I was told I might be getting the job, Mr. Ziegler gave me the schedule and had in mind I’d be playing Serena. But to be my very first one at Serena, I’m thinking, ‘Oh boy,’” Kalsto said. “I’m looking forward to it and seeing faces I grew up with. A lot of my friends will be there. It will be exciting.”

Kalsto, a graduate of Northern Illinois University, said his junior high teams at PC had some “decent success and held their own” in the Little Tri-County Conference. He worked summer camps with former Putnam County High School coach John Slingsby, whom he calls a great mentor.

“Slick was a big part in mentoring me. I looked for him for advice,” Kalsto said. “That was huge for me. I got a behind-the-scenes look to see how it’s like at the high school level, and I got to be around a couple good teams and a couple good players.”