DURANT — J. Scott Lowrance confirmed Friday that he is stepping down as Durant High School boys basketball coach to take a job as Principal of Byng High School. Lowrance is no stranger to the school and community in Pontotoc County, having coached at Ada prior to coming to Durant.

“I’ve got a lot of friends, and my wife has a lot of friends just from our time in Ada,” said Lowrance. “I’ve been around Byng for three years, including playing them this year. It’s a good situation to be going to, a quality school district.”

The hiring was approved by the Byng school board during a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday. Tentative minutes of Thursday’s Byng Board of Education meeting were not readily available.

Lowrance spent one season as the head coach of the Lions, in the midst of a rebuilding effort. Durant ended the season at 4-19 after losing the opening game of the postseason to Northwest Classen. Last year the Lions didn’t have a single returning starter, and few of those players had logged minutes with the varsity. This winter Durant will return all five starters. Lowrance also held coaching positions in the high school’s cross country and golf programs.

It probably goes without saying that the hardest part of leaving was having to say good-bye to his team. He informed his players Friday evening.

“I stayed awake at night the last few nights, just thinking about having to tell these guys,” said Lowrance. “For me, this group has been a great group. I couldn’t imagine how hard they’d work and the things they did. They improved so much. You couldn’t ask for a better group of kids than I had this year at Durant High School.”

The new job doesn’t not include a coaching duty, which will also be a first for Lowrance in 10 years.

“It’s going to be hard as well, but it’s going to be a good change for me, for my wife and family. I’ll miss the game nights and some of the camaraderie you build as a team,” said Lowrance.

Lowrance was still planning his future with the Lions for much of the spring and summer. In February this season, the team was approved a trip to play in Florida over the Christmas Break.

“To be honest, I was really focused on this team to this point, before this opportunity presented itself. I don’t know if (being a principal) was the greatest aspiration I had. Preparing us for last season and preparing us for this year, before this opportunity arose was all I was concerned with.”

One of his favorite memories from the last season was the first win of the season, an emotional win over Plainview.

“The Plainview win, just the fact of how excited the kids were that they started to believe in themselves. The memories I’ll take with me are of my main kids. (Spuds) Cook and Tre (Williams), Holden (Wright) Brandon (Bennett), Sam (Steve) and Jimmy (Tran). Those were my main five or six guys that I worked with most, and they really did everything I asked. Nik Patel those guys too. We grew together throughout the course of the year. I grew as a person, because of how hard they played and what they gave me on a daily basis.”

A 1992 graduate of Durant High School, Lowrance spent the previous two seasons as head boys’ coach for the Ada Cougars. In that time Lowrance took the Cougars from a 14-7 record his first season there to 20-5 last season, missing a trip to the state tournament by one game. His Cougars lost in the Area Consolation Finals to No. 3 Bishop Kelley.

Lowrance came to Ada from Choctaw, where he spent two years as head boys’ basketball coach. Before that, he was an assistant at Edmond North from 1999-2003.