Published: June 08, 2008 12:37 am            

Nyberg takes over as Seiling’s coach

After a four-year absence, Brandon Nyberg is excited about returning to northwest Oklahoma.

Nyberg has accepted the boys basketball reins at Seiling after spending three years at Bethel and one year at Elk City. He coached Cimarron’s boys for seven seasons and Watonga for two.

Nyberg had a 127-62 record at Cimarron, including state tournament appearances in 2001 and 2002.

He inherits a Seiling team that went 19-8 before losing to Medford 64-51 in the area tournament. Former coach Gary Baker is leaving the bench to become the school’s principal.

“I feel good about it,’’ said Nyberg. “You feel a lot better about a team when you have some players coming back. We’ll just have to see how things work out. You never know until you see them in the gym.’’

Nyberg has met his new team once. He talked with Baker about the team. He is confident he will be able to run an up-tempo style of offense.

“I certainly hope I can keep the same style,’’ Nyberg said. “That will be determined on what they’re capable of doing, but I’m going into it with that philosophy. They feel pretty good about the team coming back.’’

Nyberg’s team will be in the Fairview summer league. Because he’s going to be moving, he won’t get to spend as much time as he would like with the Wildcats this summer.

“I think everything is going to be all right because we have a good group back,’’ he said.

Nyberg feels comfortable with Seiling because (1) of superintendent Bob Bush, whom he got to know when the latter was at Pioneer, (2) it’s closer to his wife Brandi’s family in Canton and (3) he’s going back to a small school.

“Elk City (4A school) just didn’t work out for us,’’ he said. “It was time for us to move on to greener pastures. Brandi grew up in a small school, and so did I. We feel a little more comfortable there.’’

At Seiling, he will get a chance to coach his oldest son, Bowan, with the fifth- and sixth-grade team.

Brandi Nyberg, a highly-successful coach herself, won’t be coaching this season, at least at Seiling. There were no coaching openings.