By Kenton Brooks
Doug Gunselman understands he wasn’t the first choice to be the new Muskogee High School baseball coach, but he’s not concerned about that.
Athletic director Bobby Jefferson said Wednesday he will recommend the 28-year-old Alva native to the Muskogee Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting July 21.
In early June, Brad Hill of Bonham (Texas) High School had accepted the job but changed his mind a week later to remain coaching in Texas.
Gunselman has been the coach at Central Arkansas Christian, a private high school in North Little Rock the last three seasons. He was one of the original three finalists for the job when Hill was chosen, Jefferson said.
“That’s part of the business,” he said. “With a Class 6A school like Muskogee, there’s competition for jobs. I’m not going to let it bother me.”
Gunselman comes to Muskogee after being a head coach at Central Arkansas Christian for three seasons and Hugoton, Kan., for one year. He led CAC to the 5A state championship this spring and finished with a 21-8 record. His career record is 74-36.
CAC reached the state semifinals and quarterfinals in his first two seasons at the school.
Jefferson is confident Gunselman is a “good fit” for Muskogee’s baseball program.
“It’s good for us and good for him,” Jefferson said. “He’s bringing one of his assistant coaches (Ryan Stauder) with him. Everything’s worked out. We’ll be OK.”
Born in Tulsa, Gunselman knows one of the first things he wants to work on is improving participation of players in Muskogee youth baseball.
“It really starts with the community getting them excited about baseball,” he said. “I want to establish a relationship with the kids and what I want to do is have everyone on the same page as we are from kindergarten up to high school.”
If approved by the school board, the York (Neb.) College graduate, married with two young sons, replaces Mack Chambers after Chambers resigned to take a similar head coaching position at Keys High School in Park Hill. The Roughers reached the state tournament this past spring.
He’s aware the Roughers won’t be as experienced and Archie Bradley, MHS’ top pitcher in the spring, has transferred to Broken Arrow.
“I don’t know who is on and who is not on the team,” Gunselman said. “We’re going to have to plug in some holes. We want the players to be sound mentally, physically and fundamentally.”
