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It is generally accepted that no matter how much people like things to stay the same there is always a time when things change.
Barneveld's basketball programs are accepting that as after 38 years and 699 wins which makes him the winningest girls coach in Wisconsin, Jim Myers is heading over to coach the boys.
The announcement came last week when the Barneveld school board accepted the resignation of boys basketball coach Mike Whitish and the application of Jim Myers to take over the vacant position.
That was a big surprise....or was it.
Two years ago a young man joined the Barneveld boys basketball team as a freshman point guard and immediately established himself as one of the top players in the Six Rivers East. Whitish was his coach. Myers is his father. The player is Matthew Myers.
Whitish also has a daughter on the girls basketball team and a niece who just could be the top girls player in the state her senior season. In the summer, he and Myers switched roles with him taking the girls to tournaments and Myers taking the boys.
Work committments dictated Whitish leaving the boys coaching position. He was finding it more difficult to meet the time committments and demands of coaching the boys team. Whitish has offered to help the programs in any way he can.
Myers said the decision to switch did not come easy. He talked with his wife, Roseann and his son Matthew who gave him their blessing.
Then came the hard part. He had to talk to the girls.
"That has been the hardest part," Myers said. "I really had to sit and think about this being the end."
After 699 wins and 138 losses, that is a lot of time spent with the girls basketball program.
"The girls were great about it," Myers said. "They were quiet and maybe a little shocked. There hadn't been a change for so long, but everything has to change eventually."
For the first coach in Barneveld girls history in nearly 40 years, there is a good program to start with. Senior guard Hannah Whitish is on the radar of many Division 1 schools and has the talent to be in the running for Miss Wisconsin Basketball next season.
Junior Mia Whitish, her cousin and Mike Whitish's daughter, also returns and is effective in any position on the floor.
Also back are Kelsee Fargo, Abigail Bahr, Taylor Owens, Mattie Schave, Sarah Cannoy and Molly Malin. All saw action this past season and will be determined to repeat as Division 5 State Champions.
Applications are being accepted for the head girls basketball position and a decision is expected to be made soon.
"We talked about what needed to be done for the next season after state tournament last year," Myers said. "The girls know what they need to do and what has to be done. And if they fill the position from the existing staff there won't be many changes."
As for the boys, Myers has five varsity players returning who will be joined by players from a very solid junior varsity team. He also has a strong coaching staff returning to assist him.
"This is a steady group," Myers said. "They like the sport and like to play hard. I am not stepping into a program that needs rebuilding."
And there is always the fact that Myers will be able to spend time with his son. When both teams played the same night the past two seasons he was unable to attend his son's games.
"I am looking forward to taking Matthew through the rest of his high school career," he said.
Changing coaching positions in the same school system was not an overall hard decision to make.
"There is a lot of support here," Myers said. "When you do things for their kids parents here support you."
"I have been blessed to work with a quality group of young ladies and they are very important in my life," Myers said. "I will still be around. All I will be doing is sitting on a different bench."