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A familiar face is taking the reins as Polk County’s head boys basketball coach.

Former Polk County Middle head boys coach Josh Money is stepping into the same role at PCHS, giving the Wolverines a permanent head coach for the first time in a year. Daniel Bradley served as Polk’s interim coach last season.

Money led the boys program at Polk Middle for two seasons, 2019-20 and the pandemic season of 2021. He currently serves as pitching coach and assistant head coach for the Wolverine baseball program and has served as a PCHS assistant boys coach in the past.

“I am very much looking forward to getting back into it,” Money said. “I’ve been out of the game for a couple of years, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Polk County finished 3-21 last season, but will return its two leading scorers in all-conference pick Gunnar Alm and Aaron Jackson. Bradley will also return, taking over Polk’s junior varsity program. Money expects girls assistant coach Billy Alm and baseball assistant coach Zane Johnson to also be part of his staff.

“We just want to continue to build on what was done last year,” Money said. “I know it was a tough spot, they weren’t sure what was going on with the coaching. We’re just looking to come in and build on that and just get these guys where they can compete.

“They had a lot of close games last year, so hopefully we can build on that and make those our close victories instead of our close losses.”

While Money coached a handful of the returning players at PCMS, he is looking forward to getting into the gym this summer to gauge where the team’s current skillset is and what strengths he can build on for the upcoming season.

“That’s going to be the big thing this summer, to evaluate some of the kids,” he said. “Let them play a lot in workouts and open gyms and see what kind of style we’re going to need to play, then go from there.”