Longtime Linn coach Ryan Rost chose to step away from basketball and golf for the coming year, though he plans to continue leading the softball team.

“The main reason I stepped down from basketball was that I’m taking a one-year accelerated master’s program at William Woods for athletic administration, and it gets really crazy in the winter,” said Rost. “It wasn’t fair to the girls for me to be half-focused on sports and half-focused on schooling. And it’s not fair to my schooling. The best thing for the girls in the program was to find somebody who could give that full amount of attention because that’s a long season and you’ve got to have somebody. I’ll get back into it at some point, whether it’s here or somewhere else. For this year, I couldn’t pull it off.”

Rost added there is no good option for him to take even an assistant’s role because of the time commitment.

“I wanted to make the best decision for the girls,” he said. “We’ve rebuilt this program over the last three years, and it’s been successful. I want to see it continue to be successful, and it was a tough decision, having to step down, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Another aspect of his decision is that Rost has coached three sports for the last six years. “It’s taken a toll on me,” he said.

Rost noted that his players understand the decision. “You could tell they were a little upset, but I think they’re very happy that Caleb stepped in,” he said. “I think that was what they were most worried about — who we were going to get. They are excited for him.”

Thomas joined the Wildcats’ football team last fall as an assistant football coach.

He played baseball at William Woods University and Lincoln University and is teaching junior high PE and Health at Linn R-2.

He was Linn’s boys’ assistant basketball coach and volunteered as an assistant baseball coach.

Now, he’s stepping into the main role for the girls’ program.

A Cuba High School graduate, Thomas played basketball, baseball, and football there for a year, and basketball and baseball his junior and senior years.

Thomas has nine years of coaching experience in both baseball (3 as an assistant and 6 as head) and basketball (6 as assistant and 3 as head).

He began at Jamestown as an assistant in 2015 with his brother and then went to Stover as an assistant. From about 2018 until 2021, Thomas went back to Jamestown as a head basketball and baseball coach and then moved to Linn last year.

“This will be my first step into the varsity side of girls’ basketball,” said Thomas, who coached junior high girls at Jamestown in his first experience there.

Assistant Coach Steve Samson will continue his role as an assistant to Thomas, a reversal of roles from the football season.

“I think that dynamic, especially at a smaller school, is healthy for our relationship, because when he’s in the fall, when he’s leading the program, he’s the boss man, and he gets to do all that,” said Thomas. “In the winter, he gets to take a step back and just coach ball. And that’s kind of the way it goes for anything as an assistant. You just coach ball, and follow the directions of your head guy. I think it’ll be a fun dynamic with the two of us, to be honest. Having him stay with the girls this year to keep some familiarity is great. I’ll be able to balance like, ‘Hey, how did this work? You know, how did she respond?’ Instead of having to learn all of this blank, I can lean on Steve a little bit and be like, ‘Hey, brother, what do you think? You know, these girls better than me, and we can game-plan some stuff together. That part in particular is a positive, working together as an assistant and a head and then a head and an assistant.”

Thomas plans to continue with much of what Rost began, including taking the team to their usual summer camps and things of that nature. “I put some my own twist on it,” he added. “We’ve got a couple of league nights lined up, and we’ve got a few shootouts. We’re going to be really heavy in June. Then we’ll probably take July off. I know a lot of those girls play softball, and I have to get ready for football. I talk to the girls a lot. I asked what they would like and not like. I want to know what they want more of or less of, and I think we have a pretty good plan, at least, for the summer. Right now, we have a team camp and a youth camp scheduled for this summer that I’m excited about. I’ve already beat the feet with a little old-school marketing, getting out and talking to whoever I can.”

Though Thomas has mostly led young men into battle, he plans to use similar training with the girls. “You train athletes as athletes, and I don’t think it changes that much.,” he said. “I mean, obviously there are differences, but I think we may lean into playing more physically because I think that’d be a game we’d be good at, and I think it’d be something we could use as a weapon. As far as training a lot of the girls do a great job getting in the weight room already. They’re pretty driven. So that part of the differences won’t be a huge difference. We have some young ladies that can get up and down the floor and run a little bit. I think that’s something we could be pretty good at. I like their base and everything else in the weight room, so, I don’t need to change anything that’s not broken.”

When Rost announced his decision, and boys coach Braden Ham decided to move on, Thomas was asked a lot about his plans. “I always said I would interview, and I wanted the board to pick what group they felt I needed to be to best serve the district and the players,” he explained.

Thomas entered with an open mind and said he is excited to work with the Lady Wildcats. “I just want the chance to work with athletes that care,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with them. They really care. They’ve been very adamant about chatting with me when they can, trying to understand what will be new, and what’s going to be the same. That’s a big thing for me because the more comfortable they can get with me, the quicker we can move forward. We don’t have a lot of turnover. We lost four seniors from last year, but it was a younger lineup after that, and they played a lot of varsity minutes. We have a lot of returning players, and they’re young, so I’ve got two years to mold them a little bit.”

Rost, meanwhile, looks forward to the fall season with many returning players who were part of the team’s back-to-back fourth-place state finishes.

“I have a great group of young ladies who have learned a lot the last couple of years,” said Rost. “I’m looking forward to seeing how well they do in the fall.”

Rost just completed his seventh year of teaching. During his student teaching, he was an assistant baseball coach, rounding out his resume quite nicely.

He earned his Bachelor’s Degree at Central Methodist University and once he completes his master’s program, Rost may seek a position as an athletic director. “I have no idea where the next five years will take me,” said Rost. “I could still be here, in bigger roles, or I could be somewhere else, in a different role. I have no idea, yeah, but this opens up more options.”

Rost is confident the transition will be successful for the girls and Coach Thomas. “We have a big part of our core coming back, and Caleb’s very similar to me in how he coaches,” he said. “I know this will be his first rodeo coaching girls, but I think he’s going to really enjoy it. I’m sure to whatever extent he needs me, or whoever needs me, I’ll probably still be involved, whether it’s being the loudest fan on the front row, the bench, or if I have free time, breaking down film. I don’t think I’ll be able to actually fully step away, so I’ll help in whatever way I can.”