With nearly a decade of head coaching success on his resume, Kyle Jessie was looking for a challenge of being able to mold a program from the ground up.
That was one of the biggest things that attracted the successful Ardmore High School coach to ultimately become Madill’s new head boys basketball coach.
Jessie was also familiar with the Wildcat program and support from the community, having coached in the Madill Winter Classic in recent years as well as playing in the regional playoffs in Madill’s sparkling facility this past season.
“I wanted to truly build a program and being able to be around and help those kids from the seventh grade up was a big drawing card,” Jessie admitted. “Madill has one of the best facilities you will see anywhere in Class 4A. That was a factor as well asthecommunityinvestment in the program.
“Therewasapackedhouse at the meeting we had this pastweekforplayersandparents and that really validated my decision. The community support here is just outstanding. They packed the gym at the Winter Classic when we madethefinalsacoupleyears ago and were there again in the playoffs this year. That was something that really stood out to me.”
Jessie is definitely no stranger to success, getting his head coaching teeth wet on the south side of the Red River at Callisburg where he led the squad for three years, including tying the school record for victories with 23 in 2020.
From Callisburg, he took over the highly successful Ardmore program and directed the Tigers to the state semifinals his first year in 2021. They also made three straight appearances in the area tournament after that.
Having played the Wildcats this past year he is more familiar than most with what the Madill program has coming back for coming seasons.
“The cupboard is definitely not bare,” he said. “Last year was not as good as previous seasons, but they were extremely young and have a lot of potential. I also heard great things about the junior high program. Everyone is returning and I feel like we can make Madill a statewide name in basketball over the next several years.
“The good thing is that we have experience coming back this year that they didn’t have last year. We are going to have some workouts in the next couple of weeks along with summer leagues and summer camps for me to get acquainted with the players and them also get acquainted with me.”
The new Madill coach has already scheduled the Wildcats for two nights a week of summer league play in Gainesville and they will also be attending high school and junior high team camps at Durant over the summer.
He hopes to play an aggressive, high-pressure style that should be fun to watch.
“My mindset is to push the tempo,” Jessie added. “In your face defense with an emphasis in shooting. We are not going to be any bigger than most people we will play but we are going to get afterthemdefensively.That’s what I have always tried to do and what we are going to try to implement here at Madill.”