Ben Stroud stood atop a table in the Camas County High gym, spiking balls to players during defensive drills, shouting instructions over the thunderous sound of volleyballs smacking the forearms or the hardwood. He's at home again.

The former College of Southern Idaho volleyball and women's basketball coach has won state championships for Camas County as a player. Now, Stroud will try to do it as a coach as he adopts the gold and navy blue of the Mushers.

Senior Mollie McLam said there was immediate excitement when the volleyball team found out that Camas County's newest addition was a seven-time NJCAA national champion.

"I guess it was kind of 'Wow, we have a real coach who can do something with this team, and we should all try our hardest to go with him,'" McLam said.

The Camas County School District hired Stroud last month to head up the volleyball and boys basketball teams as well as the entire athletic department. He's also working with the junior high programs. It's a homecoming for the Mushers graduate, who won state championships in track and basketball in 1974. It's also a challenge as the Mushers have struggled to compete in District IV in recent seasons.

"They're just so used to getting beat up, and to me, looking around, they don't have enough pride in themselves," Stroud said. "They have to take more pride in what they do. It should hurt a little when you lose. So we need to get some things changed that way."

His decision to resume his coaching career was a complex one. For one, he had to decide if there was still a desire to coach.

"I didn't know if I really wanted to coach anymore. You know, I got hurt," he said, referring to his release from CSI in 2006. "But the school board had me come in and they gave me a pretty good talk about basically - No. 1 they wanted to try to establish something again as far as a winning program. And they wanted to know if I was interesting in giving something back to the school. Thinking of it that way, I gave it some thought and said, 'Yeah, why not? Why not help some kids out?'"

There were also practical matters weighing on the decision. While Stroud said he gave some thought about finding another NJCAA program in a different state, both he and his wife Shari, who works in Boise State University's CSI office, are close to fulfilling the PERSI (Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho) requirements to retire.

"That would hurt both of us," he said. "It's just not a smart move right now."

He's spent the past weeks preparing for a volleyball season in the revamped Class 1A Division II Sawtooth Conference. He's had approximately a month in his new position and is just getting started. One item on the agenda is to find ways to reach out to the community and get them involved and supportive of the teams.

One difference is that now he's coaching high school players instead of more experienced college players. At this level, he said, it's all about fundamentals.

"Fundamentals win. You've got to do a lot more teaching that way. Teach and re-teach. Teach and re-teach. And keep doing it," he said. "We do have some athletes, but they're not very good volleyball players yet."

The players are responding to his leadership and are more hopeful about succeeding in the future.

"I think we can get to state and actually do pretty good at state," McLam said. "We can really make something of this year with him as our coach."

Bradley Guire may be reached at 208-735-3229 or bguire@magicvalley.com.

Superintendent/Principal J.T. Stroder 764-2562