By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

Chuck Williams was hired a couple of weeks ago to assist boys basketball coach Mike Scott at McAuley Catholic High School.

Williams was named the head coach about a week later.

“I was very shocked,” Williams said Monday. “Now, of course, I’m also very excited.

“I was looking forward to learning as much as I could under Coach Scott,” Williams said.

Scott, whose one season as coach at McAuley was the 26th of his career, will remain as athletic director and help raise funds for the athletic department.

Scott also will coach golf and junior high basketball and volleyball.

“I’m not saying I’m retiring officially from coaching (basketball),” Scott said. “I just need to step back and look at the situation for a time.”

Scott, who followed his dad Joe into coaching in Southeast Missouri, has amassed 460 wins. Mike Scott, a graduate of Holcomb High School and Arkansas State, spent one year in Arkansas at Tyronza before coming to Missouri with stints at Gideon (9), St. James (4), Stoutland (9) and Crane (2) preceding McAuley.

The Warriors were 18-10 overall in 2007-08. They finished 9-3 in the Ozark 7 Conference and lost to Purdy in the title game of the Class 2 District 12 Tournament.

Williams, who attended Carl Junction High School for two years before graduating from College Heights Christian, received his associate degree from Ozark Christian College and bachelor’s degree from Missouri Southern. Williams, 26, is working on a master’s in secondary education.

He assisted his dad, Charlie, with the College Heights boys the past two basketball seasons after helping him one year at Ozark Christian College.

“I believe I’m prepared and ready to go (as a varsity coach),” Charles ‘Chuck’ Roscoe Williams Jr. said. “You learn a few things ... just a few ... under a Hall of Fame coach (the elder Williams).”

Chuck Williams, who played soccer and basketball at Carl Junction, CHC and OCC, also will serve as head baseball coach at McAuley and teach English (grades 6-8).