Mike Holt has coached basketball at schools of different sizes, but his fondest memories come from his first coaching job, which was a Class 2A school in southeast Texas.

So when the boys basketball head coaching job at Clements High School came open, Holt, then an assistant coach at Decatur High School, he jumped at the opportunity. Holt was hired to be the Colts new coach at the Limestone County Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.

“I started off at a 2A school in southeast Texas about 12 years ago,” Holt said. “It was about the same size as Clements. To me, I had one of the best times of my life coaching there. The type of kids you get at a school like Clements, these kids will run through a wall for you. They are pretty humble, down-to-earth, respectful kids.”

Holt takes over a Clements program that struggled through a 2018 season where it won only two games. Despite that poor record, he believes he can get the Colts back on the winning path.

“I just believe there’s a lot of untapped potential here at this school,” Holt said. “We have some really good kids who are hungry to get better quick. With that being said, we’re going to come in here and teach them as much as we can teach them, and put them in position to be successful. I really and truly think the sky is the limit here with the pieces we have in place.”

Prior to being an assistant at Decatur for one year, Holt was the head coach at Huntsville High for two years.

Clements athletic director Ben Campbell said Holt stood out among those who submitted a resume and were interviewed.

“He increased the win total at Huntsville while he was their head coach,” Campbell said. “He’s got good energy and really fits what we need.”

Holt met the players for the first time Wednesday and ran the team through a practice. He then coached them in a summer play date Thursday against Ardmore, which he said went very well.

“We’re trying to emphasize a few things,” Holt said. “First, playing man defense and being in the proper position to play that way is key. Also play unselfishly on offense, and try to speed up the tempo a little bit. Just those minor things we did in practice that first day, they did a good job of executing what they’d been taught.”

While Ardmore defeated Clements twice last season by an average of 22 points per game, Holt said the Colts only lost the play date by six points, which was encouraging.

“These guys are hungry and you can tell they don’t like losing,” Holt said. “This is a team accustomed to losing a bunch of games as of late, but their chins were high and they were excited about playing. They got out there and executed pretty well. We’re trying to set the standard and the bar pretty high right now. I want to get them acclimated to what I expect from them and what they should expect from themselves.”

While Clements has hired a new boys basketball coach, the Colts are also in the market for a new baseball coach, after the Board of Education accepted former coach Kirk Murphy’s resignation at its Tuesday meeting.

“We’re in the process of taking resume’s on that position,” Campbell said. “We’ve got a lot of change happening at Clements, but we’re excited about what’s going on and we’re very hopeful for the future.”