Billy Hiatt, 34, of Oklahoma City has been hired as Creston’s new varsity boys basketball coach.
Hiatt, a native of Noble, Okla., graduated from Peru State in Nebraska in 2000 after playing basketball at a junior college in Oklahoma, Murray State. His wife, Keri, is a Glenwood native and they are the parents of three children, 6-year-old daughter Victoria, 2-year-old son Cade and a 2-month-old daughter, Ruthann. Keri is a second-grade teacher in Oklahoma City.
Hiatt said he’s had connections to the Hawkeye 10 Conference, despite his Oklahoma roots.
“Keri is from Glenwood and we’re excited to get closer to her family,” Hiatt said, “and my roomate at Peru was from Harlan — Matt Thompson.”
Hiatt will be Success Room coordinator at Creston High School. A psychology teacher for five years at Yukon High School in Yukon, Okla., and head basketball coach there for four years, Hiatt more recently served as school intervention specialist there.
“That is very similar to the at-risk position there at Creston,” Hiatt said.
While head coach at Yukon, Hiatt served as a semipro summer coach for a team in the United Basketball League.
“A lot of our guys came back from playing overseas, or were from the NBA D-League and looking to get some more exposure,” Hiatt said.
That led to an opportunity to work as an assistant coach for two seasons at Southwest Christian University in Bethany, Okla. In April he had been hired as the second assistant coach at Oklahoma City University.
“I was doing some player development for them, but they knew I was looking (to be a head coach again),” Hiatt said.
Hiatt said he has spoken briefly with assistant coach Matt Somers and looks forward to joining the Iowa high school ranks. He’s visiting Creston later this week to look for housing.
“I am excited,” Hiatt said. “I look forward to the challenge of getting in there and experiencing maybe a different style of play a little bit. Here, we have athletes everywhere. But I’m thinking I may see better shooting up there. Down here, kids move around from school to school, like recruiting, but I think it will be nice to go in and build a program and be part of the community.
“In college, you have kids for a year or two,” Hiatt added. “I like to develop kids and watch them progress.In Yukon, we got the players involved in the community. I like to have that commitment and support of the community you get in high school basketball.”
Jeff Bevins, Creston High School activities director, said Hiatt was one of three candidates interviewed for the position.
“He did a great job of explaining the fundamentals of the game,” Bevins said. “He stresses fundamentals and discipline. He stresses the team atmosphere. I think he has a very high energy level, and will work well with the boys.”
Hiatt succeeds Jim Calkins, who coached the Panthers eight seasons, including back-to-back state tournament appearances in 2005 and 2006.