Change of plans works out

Sometimes plans change and that was the case for the Okarche girls basketball coaching search.

It also left Josh Sumrall happy with the end result.

The Okarche Board of Education during a special Wednesday meeting approved the hiring of Brett Tahah as the next coach of the basketball program.

She will succeed Haley Mitchel, who resigned her coaching duties in December. Sumrall, the district’s superintendent and a former basketball coach, and Larry Black, a former Lady Warrior coach, completed the rest of the season on the sideline.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, board members approved the hiring of Tahah’s husband, Scott Tahah, as the head softball coach and an assistant on the girls basketball staff.

“We feel very fortunate to have been able to hire both of these coaches for our girls athletic programs,” said Sumrall, the Okarche superintendent. “The dynamic worked out perfect with the husband and wife combination.”

However, that wasn’t in Sumrall’s initial plans.

He had selected a candidate to take over the program several weeks ago, but that selection had requested some additional time before making the hiring official.

Ultimately, that coach backed out.

In the meantime Okarche softball coach Skye Tilley resigned that position.

Those two occurrences set the wheels in motion for Wednesday.

“I truly believe things happen for a reason. It’s not a secret to our community that we had another plan a few months ago with our head girls basketball position,” Sumrall said. “Due to some uncontrollable circumstances, that plan fell through. That situation turned out to be a blessing as things seemed to fall perfectly into place shortly after.”

Sumrall called Brett Tahah.

“When I contacted Brett, who has a very good reputation for being a great girls basketball coach in the state, about the girls basketball position, she was excited and very passionate about the opportunity.”

The conversation soon included Scott Tahah, who Sumrall said he knew “was also a very good softball and basketball coach.”

“Again, this was not an option a few months ago, so the way things worked out and fell into place was a true blessing to our school, girls athletic programs and our community,” Sumrall said. “I believe everyone is excited to have them both join our Okarche Schools family and I know the Tahahs and the girls are ready to get to work.”

The couple met with the basketball and softball teams after the meeting.

“I told them I hope you all are ready to get to work,” Brett said. “We’ve got us a lot of basketball this summer.”

The Tahahs had already been hard at work.

“After I had offered the positions and they accepted, it wasn’t 48 hours later that they contacted me with plans and schedules for the summer,” Sumrall said. “That shows their passion and work ethic and wanting to get here and work with the girls as soon as possible.”

Tahah is a Hobart native who spent last year coaching her alma mater.

She also has high school stops in Lookeba-Sickles, Elgin, Frontier and Marlow.

Tahah also coached two seasons at Oklahoma City University.

Prior to being offered the job at Okarche, Tahah had earlier this spring accepted the girls basketball position at Moore High School.

However, she said, the lure of Okarche was too much to turn down.

“It’s a very rich tradition,” she said. “And when I interviewed with Mr. Sumrall, (OHS Principal) G.W. Parham and (boys coach) Aaron West, I just got a great feeling from those guys.”

She said the school district was also a big draw as the Tahahs have there young children. Zoey will be in second grade, Maddox in first grade and Heston is 15 months.

“Okarche is an amazing school district and we’re excited our kids get to be a part of it,” Tahah said.