BLUEFIELD From 2007-09, Jesse Lester compiled a 76-6 record as the boys basketball coach at Wyoming East, winning two state championships and finishing second in the third.

At that point he walked away from the game.

I was kind of worn down and to be honest with you, I was living in Camp Creek when I had those last two coaching jobs, and I had what you could call long distance coaching jobs, said Lester, who was a head coach at Wyoming County schools Herndon and Baileysville prior to arriving at New Richmond as an assistant in the early 2000s.

Lester, who still lives in Camp Creek and teaches at PikeView, now has a shorter drive to be able to resume a coaching career that includes a 298-129 record at three schools, including two state titles and two state runner-up finishes.

Basically my role in life is to help young people as a teacher and coach to reach some of their goals and dreams in life, Lester said. That is why I coach and teach.

He had to do it from afar in the past. During a 13-year span, Lester had to endure a daily drive of more than 1 1/2 hours from Princeton to Baileysville, and later had to commute an hour and 10 minutes from Camp Creek to Wyoming East.

His trip to PikeView? Less than 20 minutes.

Anytime you are traveling that much and gone all the time, it kind of wears you down and burns you out a little bit, said Lester, whose first job at his alma mater in Herndon was just three miles from his home. Now it takes me about 15 to 18 minutes to get to school every day...

Those kind of things just wore me down and I needed to get away for a while.

When Anderson resigned after last season, Lester started getting hints from students and community supporters to take over the program at PikeView.

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Lester making reeturn to coaching at PikeView