Kingfisher will see two more veteran teachers head north next year, one of them to keep intact one of the most successful coaching trios in Oklahoma.

The Dover Board of Education last Wednesday approved the hiring of Chris Combs and Jill Haub beginning in the 202324 school year.

Haub, who teaches seventh grade English language arts at Kingfisher Junior High, will teach the same subject for both seventh and eighth grades at Dover.

“Jill is a phenomenal teacher,” Dover Superintendent Jay Wood said. “A big area we are focusing on is English and reading. She will be instrumental in coordinating and implementing that area in our upper elementary and junior high.”

Haub has taught at Kingfisher for 16 years and said the decision to leave was difficult.

“I am very thankful for my time at Kingfi sher and for my very special KJH family,” she said.

“It has been awesome.”

Dover, she said, presented a different challenge that she welcomed.

“I’m thrilled about this opportunity to do something different in my career,” she said. “I grew up in a small school and I am excited about this new challenge to teach in a small school.”

On top of the regular teaching duties, Haub will join Lindsay Reese in reading and English intervention with students.

Dover late last month hired Lindsay Reese as a reading interventionist for the upper grades.

At that same meeting, the hires of Jared Reese and Danny Green were also approved.

With Combs, that trio won four state championships as KHS boys basketball coaches.

In their seven years together, they were 187-12 (.939), reached state all seven times and had a 15-2 record at state.

Combs will join Reese and Green on the Dover boys basketball bench and will also assist girls coach Matt Peck.

An Oklahoma history teacher and golf coach at KHS as well, Combs will teach history and start a golf program at Dover, Wood said.

“You won’t find a better assistant and ‘x’s and o’s’ guy than Chris,” Wood said.

“He will be very valuable, as we all know, to our basketball programs.”

Combs coached Kingfisher to five state runner- up finishes in boys golf, including this season (See Page 7 of this edition).

“I am also excited that he will be here to start and coach our golf program,” Wood said. “He coaches golf just like he does basketball and you can’t ask for a better one.”

The decision to leave Kingfisher - his alma mater and teaching and coaching home for the last 23 years - was far from an easy one for Combs.

“It was a brutally tough decision,” he admitted.

Combs was Kingfisher’s first-ever softball coach. He has served as the KHS girls head basketball coach. He’s had untold success with the boys basketball and golf programs.

“Obviously being a part of the four state championships is the pinnacle, but the other big conference wins and being around so many talented and hard-working kids and having such great administrative and community support,” Combs said.

“I’ve always loved the day-to-day interaction with the guys, seeing them execute a game plan and always playing with such amazing effort.”

Combs put a decision on the backburner to concentrate on golf season. When it was over, he made the decision to make the move.

It was a decision that came down to who was going to be in Dover, he said.

“It wasn’t about anything that was or wasn’t done at Kingfisher,” he said.

“I’d like to thank our administration for promoting and encouraging our students in all activities at the school. They are always present at events and competitions supporting our students. I’ve always enjoyed my colleagues.”

The opportunity to continue his career with Reese and Green is what Combs said swayed him.

“Ultimately, the biggest thing for me was the opportunity to continue to coach with my best friends in the business,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot together and have enjoyed so many good memories and that’s a big deal to me.”

Combs, Green and Reese made history at Kingfi sher.

They’ll give it another go at Dover.

“We work well as a group and this late in my career, I just wanted to continue working with those guys every day and see if we can help create many more great memories at Dover,”