Kamiakin hires Gant as new athletic director

In a flurry of moves announced Thursday, the face of athletics Kamiakin High School looks a bit different.

Kamiakin hired Prosser athletic director Casey Gant to fill the same position for the Braves. Gant, who will start July 1, is replacing Don Schumacher, who is retiring after 33 years in education, including 12 as Kamiakin’s athletic director.

“Going to a big 3A school with a great tradition, it is a move in the right direction,” Gant said. “They have an outstanding coaching staff and a great tradition. My goal is to step in and help build on the foundation that was built by Randy Dolven and Don Schumacher and hope I can do them proud.”

Gant has been the AD at Prosser the past 11 years. Before that he was the AD for two years at Mabton and the head football coach for seven years.

“It’s very tough to leave Prosser,” Gant said. “It is a great place with a lot of great people. When you leave someplace like that, it is bittersweet. You are excited about the opportunities ahead of you, but you will leave behind some people who really touched your life.”

Gant takes over at Kamiakin at a time of transition for the school. The Braves will be apart of the newly formed Mid-Columbia Conference starting in the fall. The conference will be made up of the seven Tri-Cities schools and Walla Walla.

“I’m excited. I think it will be a great opportunity of building that foundation of a league that I think will be one of the best in the state,” he said. “A great opportunity to be apart of that, especially at the ground level and really helping create what that league will look like.”

Gant also will be an assistant principal at Kamiakin.

His hire wasn’t the only one the district announced Thursday, though. Southridge hired boys basketball and wrestling coaches, and Kennewick hired its new girls basketball coach.

At Southridge, DJ Traver takes over the boys basketball program after Jason DeVere resigned in March. Traver, a River View graduate, spent the last eight years at Columbia (Burbank).

“I’m more excited than nervous,” Traver said. “It is an exciting challenge. It is a great program, with some good competitive kids.”

Traver took the Coyotes to the state tournament four times, placing eighth in 2006.

A familiar face will be roaming the mats as the new wrestling coach for the Suns, as John Hogg is returning to coaching.

The former Southridge assistant took a couple of years off to spend more time with his family, but will replace Dave Brown, who resigned in March.

“I’m real excited,” Hogg said. “We have some really good kids coming back.”

Hogg was an assistant wrestling coach at Southridge in 2007-08. He also served as an assistant at Kennewick (2001-04), where he was the head coach from 2005-06, and Kiona-Benton from 1987-2000.

While Hogg has a lot of experience, the new Kennewick girls basketball coach will be entering a brave new world.

Oliver Browning, a 2000 graduate of Kennewick, has been hired to replace Tarah Staton, who resigned to spend more time with her family.

Browning not only will be a first-time head coach, but he also will be coaching girls basketball for the first time.

“I feel like I’m prepared,” he said. “I’ve coached under really good coaches and I feel like I’ve seen what to do.”

Browning has been a boys basketball assistant at Kennewick, and Vancouver’s Hudson Bay and Battle Ground.

This story was originally published May 10, 2012 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Kamiakin hires Gant as new athletic director."