It’s been 15 years since Scott Koenigs coached high school basketball in Lyle, but now he’s back in the fold.

After coaching the Riverland Community College men’s basketball team for the past four years, Koenigs is ready to take another spin at high school hoops as he takes over as head coach for Lyle-Pacelli. Koenigs will remain the head baseball coach at RCC, but he said coaching college basketball required too much of his time with long road trips and a lot of recruiting.

He’s glad to be coaching at the high school level again.

“The kids work their tails off and they’re really good kids,” Koenigs said. “Their parents did a fabulous job of raising them, that’s all I can say. They listen, they work hard and they play hard. They’re good team guys and it’s fun to be here. I never wanted to stop coaching basketball. I enjoy coaching it way too much and it was always my first love. It was just easier for me to get into baseball, because I played college baseball.”

Koenigs has brought an intense style of basketball to LP. He hopes to press as much as possible and crank up the tempo. After a few days of practice, LP senior Noah Jiskra was a little winded, but he’s excited about how Koenigs will impact the Athletics.

“We’ve got a lot of intensity,” Jiskra, who averaged 17.7 points per game last season, said. “There’s a lot of hard work and a very fast pace. It’s really exciting. He has a lot of experience at the next level.”

LP senior Braden Kocer said that Koenigs and his staff have inspired the Athletics to kick it into second gear already.

“The new coaching staff is working just as hard as the players are working. They’re really grinding with us and that’s great to see,” Kocer said. “Last year was a good year, but we’re hungrier this year and we want more than last year. This coaching staff is really going to help us to work hard.”

LP went 19-9 overall last season, but its season came to an end on an 80-62 loss to Blooming Prairie in the Section 1A West semifinals.

Koenigs said he wants his team to be competitive throughout this season. He also wants to develop some depth with his squad so they can keep opponents out of their comfort zone.

“We’ve got to get in a lot better shape to play the kind of basketball that I like,” Koenigs said. ” But these guys are athletic, they’ve got quick hands and they’re perfect for what we want to do, which is trapping, pressing and getting a lot of lay ups.”

LP will open its season at Glenville-Emmons 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20.