Beene

Fort Scott Community College has found its new athletic director. Pending approval by the FSCC Board of Trustees, Russell Beene will take the position Sept. 2.

One of the first things he will have to do is find a new men's basketball coach. John Burns resigned his position, apparently abruptly, with the announcement of the vacancy arriving at The Fort Scott Tribune offices Wednesday afternoon. The opening was posted on the Jayhawk Conference's Web site later that day.

Burns' apparent resignation came with such short notice, it may well be that Beene had just learned of the vacancy himself when the announcement of his own hiring was sent out Thursday afternoon.

Burns coached at FSCC for four seasons, compiling a record of 51-71. Although the 2006-07 team was 19-12, the Greyhounds fell to 8-23 last season as only one key player returned. About half the squad were also members of the Greyhound football team.

There is not an assistant coach listed on the FSCC Web site, although it's possible one had been hired and had not been put on it yet.

That particular circumstance notwithstanding, Beene is looking forward to taking his position at Fort Scott.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to come to Fort Scott and be a part of the college and community," Beene said in a press release. "My visits to the campus and the city have convinced me that the Fort Scott people are the community's greatest asset. A visitor cannot help but feel the warmth and hospitality that is part of the personality of Fort Scott."

Prior to accepting the A.D. position at FSCC, Beene had been athletic director at Seminole State College in Seminole, Okla., since 1994. While at Seminole State, Beene's sports programs garnered a number of NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament bids through Region II and District Championships including five in baseball, two in men's basketball, one in women's basketball, four in softball and one in volleyball. Other Seminole State programs in men's and women's golf and tennis earned national top five finishes in the sports.

Many of the sports programs that gained that national recognition were not even offered at the Seminole State prior to Beene's appointment as A.D. He initiated the development of six new sport programs while there, increasing the participation in athletics from 69 student-athletes in 1996 to 130 in 2008. Programs added at that time included women's fast-pitch softball, men's tennis, women's tennis, men's golf, women's golf and women's volleyball.

The opportunity to be involved in the Jayhawk Conference also factored into Beene's decision to make the move to Fort Scott.

"The Jayhawk is one of the country's best junior college athletic conferences," he said. "I'm looking forward to working with the coaches and staff at Fort Scott to continue traditions of success and build new traditions in the most competitive conference in the United States."

While at Seminole State, Beene also became nationally involved in NJCAA governance and organization as the Men's Division Region Director for the states of Oklahoma and Arkansas. In that position, he was responsible for all post-season and national qualifying tournaments in NJCAA Region II. In addition to serving on a number of NJCAA sport committees, Beene completed a year of service as the Chairman of NJCAA Division I Basketball in 2008.

Under Beene's direction, Seminole State completed several construction and expansion projects. Most recently, the college dedicated a new state-of-the-art softball two-field complex and stadium with an indoor hitting and pitching facility attached to the stadium field. During his tenure, he was also involved in the renovation of the basketball arena, construction of indoor training facilities for baseball and the construction of a new 80-bed residential learning center on the college campus.

Beene and his wife, Debra, have two daughters Callie, 13, and Cassie, 19. Callie will become an eighth-grader at Fort Scott in the coming months. Cassie is a sophomore softball athlete at Seminole State.

Some information for this report provided by FSCC Public Relations Director Kathleen Hinrichs.