Youth, enthusiasm, and a knowledge of basketball.

Geoff Kappes is anticipated to bring all the above to the Coupeville High School girls basketball program next winter.

The 29-year-old eighth grade history teacher, who just moved from Idaho to Coupeville at the start of the school year, was hired for next year to take over for a very popular and successful coach in Greg Oldham.

“I’m excited about what coach Oldham has done,” Kappes said. “I’ve talked to him quite a bit about the program he’s leaving behind and I’m hoping to carry a lot of the things he’s done on.”

Oldham, who in five years at CHS put forth a 85-43 record, three state appearances and three state trophies, will move to Aberdeen, S.D. this summer to assist 800-game winner Don Meyer at Northern State University.

For CHS athletic director Ron Bagby, picking Kappes to fill the void was an easy choice.

“We are excited to have him on board, he is young and has lots of enthusiasm and has been waiting for this opportunity to be a head coach,” Bagby said.

Kappes, who has never coached varsity basketball, spent his first year in Coupeville leading the eighth grade boys team. Over his career, however, he has predominantly coached girls.

“I’ve probably coached 12 or 13 seasons and I’ve probably done girls about 10 of those seasons,” Kappes said. “I like the girls side, I like their intensity, I like the way they play — I enjoy basketball regardless.”

Over the last season, Kappes had an opportunity to observe Oldham’s style of play while attending nearly all the Wolves’ home games. He said he liked what he saw and plans to stick to the same style of running up and down the court with a slight flavor of his own.

“I really want to see my team push the ball and get easy baskets when we can,” Kappes said. “I’ve already talked with them — I met them for the first time yesterday and just kind of said, ‘we’re going to be aggressive and look to run as much as we can.’”

Even more than the success Oldham had on the court, it’s the stuff the former coach encouraged his kids to do off the court, like helping the youth in the community learn about basketball and life, that Kappes wants to keep going.

“The off-the-court stuff that coach Oldham did was really nice — a lot of the character stuff,” he said. “Coupeville is really well thought of in many different places.

I’ve talked to a lot of coaches around the state…they really respect and like the program.”

Kappes will first get a glimpse of his new team this summer as he plans to take them to a number of camps and tournaments.