Just as a Llano High School committee was naming its candidate for the job of girls’ varsity basketball coach, the Jacket athletic program was losing another coach and elementary teacher. Baseball’s Chad Krempin, his wife Jennifer, and their two children are heading to Class-5A San Angelo Central. Krempin had some good things, and not-so-good things, to say concerning his two years here.

“The kids are second to none,” the coach pointed out. “It was great being around the boys, who are a class act. They started slowly this season but rallied to win the bidistrict and area titles.” Llano was the bidistrict champion in 2007.

“I’ll be checking the box scores when I’m in San Angelo,” Krempin declared, “and I hope the guys get to Austin for the Final Four. It’s happened before, and it can happen again.”

But, “While the majority of parents were great to deal with, there seemed to be a lack of focus with some, and that was disturbing. More and more people would like to see their son or daughter get to play than the team win ...” and that attitude “... made it disappointing at times here. It was stressful, not a lot of fun, and that’s why it’s time to leave.” And, Krempin concluded, “Maybe it’s better for someone else to come in and get people on the same page.”

Athletic director, David Yeager, who criticizes a colleague about as often as Indiana Jones criticizes archaeology, said that coach K, “did a great job for us in both football and baseball, and he’s leaving the baseball program in a lot better shape than it was in when he arrived. Also, his wife, Jennifer, is an excellent teacher.”

Llano goes into a tough district next school year, but it does have some dandy players returning to the diamond. They include pitchers Ty Compton, Dallas Redden, Logan Davis, Kyle Leyendecker, Jordan Ashabranner and Travis Ramos.

Ramos, who will be a sophomore, is also a power-hitting shortstop. And Walker Woolman, Dean Redden, Reagan Friedrich, Estevan Aviles and Trey Brooks should contribute to a veteran club.

San Angelo Central (3,000 students) hasn’t been super in recent years in baseball, and it’s in a 10-team district which features such brand names as Midland High and Midland Lee, Odessa High and Odessa “Friday Night Lights” Permian, and three Lubbock schools.

Krempin, a 1991 graduate of Burnet High, notes, though, “It’s always been a goal of mine to coach at the 5A level or in college,” and he indicated there will be more specialization by the kids; that is to say, playing just one sport.

Yeager is attending a football camp at the University of Arkansas this week, and when he returns, he will lead a selection group which will choose Krempin’s successor.

Coach Me if you Can: Steve Heryford was hired by Yeager to be his defensive coordinator in Llano in 2005. Heryford lasted about two safety blitzes in the summer: he left to become head coach at San Angelo Central.

One of the men who applied for that Bobcats’ job was Bob Shipley. Heryford replaced Bob Bellard, who went to Bryan High. Bellard is the son of Emory Bellard, the Darrell Royal assistant who devised the wishbone offense in the late 1960s. Shipley is the father of ...., oh, you know that already.