Painter named as school’s activities director

A familiar face and a new face will take on leadership roles within the Fremont Bergan athletic department this school year.

Scott Painter has begun duties as Bergan’s new activities director, replacing Roger Ortmeier who was hired as a teacher at Elkhorn Middle School after serving a four-year tenure as AD.

Painter will be joined in the athletic department by recently hired social science instructor Jim Jones who will replace Ron Beacom as the new head girls basketball coach.

“Scott will do a tremendous job because he’s extremely organized,” said Bergan principal Ron Beacom who was in charge of selecting Ortmeier’s replacement. “His educational background is in business so he brings that to the table also. He’ll do a great job with the business end of being an athletic administrator.

“Being an AD requires so much paperwork, so much structure and so much calendar work. Every one of those pieces in him is a strength. It was just a natural fit for him to take that over and it’s something that he loves to do.”

Painter is familiar with Bergan’s extra-curricular activities. During his eight years with the school, he has advised the yearbook in addition to coaching junior high football, freshman volleyball, freshman boys basketball and varsity track.

He says taking care of all the details which accompany the position will be one of his top priorities.

“My biggest challenge is making sure that everything is ready to go,” Painter said. “My biggest fear is to get to a ballgame and not have refs show up. I need to make sure everything is ready and all the bases are covered.”

Beacom and Ortmeier were both involved in the selection of Jones. The school made finding a new social science teacher its top priority and the position was advertised for a teacher who would be open to extra-curricular possibilities.

“I felt like we had several quality candidates,” Beacom said. “I would have been comfortable with our top three candidates for both the teaching position as well as the basketball position. Jim came out on top. When we offered him the job, he accepted it and he’s been a great hire to this point.”

Jones is a 1996 Sutton High School graduate who played five years of football at Hastings College. He began his career at Sioux County High School in Harrison where he was the head girls basketball and football coach for three years.

Jones then moved to Thayer Central High School in Hebron and served as the head boys basketball coach for two years. He spent last year officiating with a group out of Hastings that worked 45-50 varsity basketball games.

While Jones played defensive end for teams that went 10-0 in back-to-back seasons at Hastings College, basketball has always been his favorite sport.

“I was good at football and could play that game, but I love basketball,” he said. “Basketball is really my passion. I wished I would have been a little better athlete so I could play basketball, but it just didn’t work out.”

The new coach has already took control of Bergan’s girls summer league and has seen growth within the Lady Knights’ program. Bergan opened summer play with six girls and since then that number has doubled.

Jones isn’t just concerned about the varsity program. He hopes to establish cohesiveness throughout the entire school.

“I’m also excited to start building a program,” Jones said. “I know coach (Chris) Paulson has done a great job on the boys side of building a program from the little kids all the way through. We really want to stress that here so we’re not losing this group of really good girls and then have to wait four or five years.”

Similar to Beacom’s coaching style, assembling a strong pressure defense will be one of Jones’ top priorities.

“I want to make teams as uncomfortable as much as we possibly can,” Jones said. “There will be a big emphasis on how we play defensively. I’m not sure how deep we’re going to be yet. We’ll have to see when the season rolls around how that turns out.”

The new coach is pleased with how the girls have adjusted this summer to their second new offensive system in as many years.

“I think we have some good senior leadership from what I’ve seen this summer,” Jones said. “We’ve got girls who are learning and want to win.”

Beacom is confident he has left the program in good hands.

“Jim has done a great job with them and they continue to get better throughout the summertime,” he said. “Having somebody who can devote all his time to that program from top to bottom is vital.”