(Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
MANITOU SPRINGS — The Class 3A girls basketball runner-up is no longer without a head coach.
Manitou Springs athletic director John McGee confirmed to CHSAANow.com on Thursday that the school has named Ed Longfield as the new coach of the Mustangs.
Longfield is the superintendent of Manitou Springs District 14 and will now try his hand at making a run at a state basketball championship. He replaces former coach Jon Asp, who took a job as an assistant at Colorado Christian University.
Joining Longfield on staff will be Danny Gieck.
“It’s just an amazing opportunity,” Longfield said. “The kids really needed someone to work with them. We started talking about it over the last few weeks and it just seemed more and more like the right thing to do and the more fun it seemed to the two of us.”
If Gieck’s name sounds familiar it’s because he has been a part of the Manitou coaching community before.
Three years ago, he guided the Manitou football team to the 2A semifinals. He resigned from that job the following offseason.
He also served as the interim girls basketball coach during the 2012-13 season.
Longfield hopes that he and Gieck can do this for a multi-year stretch and that somewhere down the line they can groom someone to take over the job.
The Mustangs lost three seniors from last year’s team but return an experienced backcourt that includes Shelby Megyeri, a three-time CHSAANow.com all-state player.