The Belleville East boys and girls golf program will have a new look this season, but the faces will be familiar.
Longtime girls head coach Terry Neutzling is taking over the boys team. Shauna Ecker, who has been Neutzling's assistant, is the new girls head coach.
Neutzling replaces Brent James, who coached the team last year but whose teaching position wasn't renewed due to budget cuts. John Major was head coach in 2008 and 2009.
Neutzling, who has been at East for 15 years, has been the girls varsity golf coach for 11 years.
"When (former boys coach) Jim Reynolds retired (after the 2007 season), they asked if I was ready to make the move and I still wasn't," Neutzling said. "Two coaches later, I have two young boys who are 3 and 4 and they're started to have an interest in golf. I thought it would be nice to coach my sons, but I have a long way to go before that.
"From where Jim Reynolds had this program, I would like to see it get back to that kind of status. It's a real shame to lose Brent James because he did an outstanding job and had the team heading in the right direction."
For Neutzling, the biggest difference in coaching boys golf will be course management.
"With the boys, some are going to be able to reach the water with a driver and others aren't," Neutzling said. "You may put a 3-wood in some guys' hands just so they can keep the ball in play on the first hole.
"Overall, the emphasis is still on the short game and being prepared to go out and play, both physically and mentally."
Not including incoming freshmen, Neutzling expects to have 13 golfers on this year's roster.
"I've had such a push for girls golf the last few years, I'm just now looking at where the boys are," Neutzling said. "Hopefully we'll get the interest back up in playing golf for Belleville East.
"I've talked to a few of the kids, but I've not yet had a meeting with the team. I'd like to get a gauge on what their summer tournament schedule looks like.
"I'd like to use a couple contact days to look at swings. If the kids are working with a swing coach, that's great, but if they're not working with somebody, maybe I can give them a few pointers."
East starts practice on Aug. 10, with its first tournament less than a week later.
"We have three days of tryouts, then we have to think about who is qualified to play in that first match," Neutzling said. "One thing that's new this year is a Jay Haas/Bob Goalby matchup that St. Clair Country Club is going to host. They're going to pick up the cost for the teams, which is great for schools that are struggling monetarily."
Sean Coughlin returns as the junior varsity coach for the boys team.
"I'll work closely with Sean, but especially this first year, I'm going to be there as much as I can for coach Ecker," Neutzling said. "She's coming into her first season as head coach and she'll have a lot of questions. Clinton Hill (East's home course) is hosting the (Illinois-Missouri) River Challenge this year, so she'll be running that."
Ecker, meanwhile, was an assistant under Neutzling for four years and has been at Belleville East for six years, teaching French.
"That's how Terry found me (for the coaching position)," said Ecker, who played golf at Highland High School. "He teaches Spanish and he's the (languages) department chairman and he needed help with the girls golf team because it had grown so much. He had upwards of 20 girls and was looking to start a junior varsity team.
"I know all the girls and I know the program, so it should be an easy transition. Plus, Terry will be around to help."
Barring a large influx of freshmen, the numbers for the Lancers will be down this fall.
"We graduated a good number of seniors the last two years, so we'll be a little smaller than usual," Ecker said. "Miranda Lidisky will be a junior and she's a great No. 1 for us.
"With me being out of town the last couple years to work on my master's degree, I don't get to see the girls much during the summer. But they're good about going out and playing with their parents or playing with each other. We'll be hitting it hard come August when tryouts start."
