By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Silver Lake's Logan Pegram and Washburn Rural's Brad Johnston, who are taking over retiring Kansas coaching legends C.J. Hamilton and Kevin Hedberg, are part of a group of 19 new varsity head coaches who have been announced by Shawnee County high schools for the 2022-2023 school year.
Brad Johnston will take over as Washburn Rural's tennis coach in 2022-2023, replacing Kevin Hedberg who retired after 32 years at the school. [File photo/TSN]
Logan Pegram
Alex Hutchins
Pegram, a former Silver Lake standout, takes over as the Eagles' head football coach for Hamilton, the state's winningest football coach, who retired after 47 years at the school, while Johnston is the new Washburn Rural girls and boys tennis coach, replacing Hedberg, who led the Junior Blues to five state team championships in 32 seasons and coached a total of 43 years at Seaman and Rural.
Joining Johnston as a new head coach for Washburn Rural is former Hays boys basketball coach Alex Hutchins, who is taking over as the Junior Blues' boys basketball coach from Kevin Muff.
Seaman girls soccer coach Tim Nussbaum will also coach the Viking boys team this fall, taking over from Jacob Kirmer, who accepted a coaching position out of state.
Longtime Santa Fe Trail coach Jayson Duncan will coach Hayden's girls golf team this fall, while Carvel Reynoldson will continue as the Wildcats' girls basketball and softball coach.
Former Topeka West boys assistant basketball coach Brandon McDonnell is the new head coach at Rossville while former Shawnee Heights state champion point guard Trey Brown is the new boys basketball coach at Cair Paravel Latin.
Cair Paravel will also have a new volleyball coach, with Craig Congdon taking over that position.
Tony Pena is Seaman's new boys wrestling coach, taking over for longtime Vikings coach Patrick Kelly, while Daryl Halsey will coach Seaman's girls swimming and diving team.
Topeka High will have three new head coaches in 2022-2023, with High alums Geo Lyons and Brittney Redmond coaching the Trojan boys and girls basketball teams while Brian Brunkow is High's new bowling coach.
Russell Norton is the new head football coach at Topeka West, replacing Ryan Kelly, now on the staff at Washburn University, while Roger Laubengayer will coach the Chargers' boys wrestling team. West still has coaching positions to fill in softball and boys and girls swimming and diving.
Rene Langer and Issach Johnson will take over as the girls and boys tennis coaches at Highland Park while Marcie Hartwig will coach the Scots' bowling team and Trey Moss will coach Highland Park baseball.
Shawnee Heights is expected to returning all of its head coaches from 2021-2022 for this school year.
Two county schools have new athletic directors, with Cody Miller taking over at Topeka High and Charlie Nimz at Washburn Rural.
Listed below are the new head coaches confirmed for 2022-2023:
CAIR PARAVEL LATIN -- Trey Brown (boys basketball), Craig Congdon (volleyball).
HAYDEN -- Jayson Duncan (girls golf).
HIGHLAND PARK -- Marcie Hartwig (bowling), Issac Johnson (boys tennis), Rene Langer (girls tennis), Trey Moss (baseball).
ROSSVILLE -- Brandon McDonnell (boys basketball).
SEAMAN -- Daryl Halsey (girls swimming and diving), Tim Nussbaum (boys soccer), Tony Pena (boys wrestling).
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS -- No coaching changes.
SILVER LAKE -- Logan Pegram (football).
TOPEKA HIGH -- Brian Brunkow (bowling), Geo Lyons (boys basketball), Brittney Redmond (girls basketball).
TOPEKA WEST -- Roger Laubengayer (boys wrestling), Russell Norton (football). Note: boys and girls swimming and diving and softball to be announced.
WASHBURN RURAL -- Alex Hutchins (boys basketball), Brad Johnston (boys and girls tennis).
