By John RittenhouseThe 2005-06 winter sports season will bring three coaching changes involving Ellsworth and Hills-Beaver Creek high schools.New leaders will be in charge of both EHS basketball programs. H-BC will have a new girls’ basketball coach.After Tom Goehle stepped down from the girls’ basketball position to end a 10-year run at the post, H-BC officials selected Jason Blosmo to replace him in late May.Blosmo brings 10-plus years of coaching experience to the program, including four years of head coaching experience.Blosmo, who was hired as a fifth-grade teacher at the H-BC Elementary School prior to the 2004-05 year, served as one of Goehle’s assistant girls’ basketball coaches last season."Working with Coach Goehle last year was pretty valuable for me," Blosmo said."It gave me an opportunity to get to know the girls personally and athletically. That will be extremely helpful this year, when we hope to continue the H-BC tradition."Blosmo attended Bison High School, which is located in northwestern South Dakota.A three-sport athlete (football, basketball and track) during his high school days, Blosmo was a three-year starter as a shooting guard for the BHS basketball team before graduating in 1988.Blosmo furthered his education at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D., and South Dakota State University at Brookings, S.D., graduating from the latter in 1994.After teaching one year at Central Elementary School in Brookings, Blosmo spent a year at a consolidated school named Deubrook (near Brookings) for one year, where he coached junior high football and served as an assistant boys’ and girls’ basketball coach.Blosmo worked for the Britton, S.D., school district for the next two years, where he continued to serve as an assistant coach.From 1999-2002, Blosmo was employed in Garretson, S.D., where he took over the head coaching positions of the girls’ and boys’ basketball programs.After working in Wyoming the next two years without coaching, Blosmo found his position at H-BC."I got away from coaching for a couple of years, and I started to miss it," he said. "Now I’m excited to get back into it (coaching), and I’m looking forward to taking over the head coaching position here at H-BC."Like H-BC, Ellsworth school officials hired a pair of assistants to fill their head coaching positions for the upcoming seasons.J. (Jeremy) Fisk will replace Dean Schnaible as the head girls’ basketball coach.Schnaible resigned from the position after a five-year stint at EHS last March.This is Fisk’s second year as a kindergarten-12 physical education and health instructor at EHS, where he’s gained his first coaching experience.Fisk served as the assistant volleyball coach the last two years and worked under Schnaible as an assistant basketball coach last season."It really helps to know the girls," Fisk said."I know what to prepare for. I’m really excited about this opportunity and to see if we can improve throughout the season."Fisk graduated from North Branch High School in 1994, where he started for one season as a member of the basketball program. He also played football in high school.He attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls after high school, graduating from the institution in 2001.Fisk’s first teaching and coaching jobs came at EHS, and he plans to preach the fundamentals to the Panther girls this winter."I want them to do the little things right. If you add all the little things up and do them well, they can win you some ball games," he said.Like Fisk, Markus Okeson is in his second year as an employee of the Ellsworth School District.Okeson is a sixth-grade teacher who has been selected to replace Ken Kvaale as the head boys’ basketball coach.Kvaale resigned as the EHS coach after a six-year run last spring.Okeson served as Kvaale’s assistant coach last year, which was his first coaching experience."It was nice to get to know all of these kids last year," Okeson said. "We should be all right this year, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of it all."Okeson is a 1999 graduate of Frazee High School, where he was a two-sport competitor.Along with playing baseball, Okeson was a three-year starter as a point-guard for the Hornets’ basketball team.Okeson attended Bemidji State University after high school, where he graduated in 2003.The first-year EHS coach will stress defense to the 2005-06 Panthers."I’ll be a defensive-minded coach. The boys will learn how to defend," he said.