Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Solon didn’t need to look very long, or very far, to find its next boys basketball coach.

Less than two weeks after Matt Lesan resigned as head coach Solon announced Monday it was hiring former Regina head coach Jared Galpin pending school board approval.

Galpin, who just completed his first year as a fifth-grade teacher at the Solon Intermediate School, posted a 53-14 record in three seasons at Regina leading the Regals to the 2A state tournament in 2019.

“When the position opened up and he expressed interest in it you start digging into him a little bit like you do with all coaches and all of his colleagues in the River Valley Conference and just different people in the basketball community just held him in such high regard,” Solon Activities Director Casey Hack said. “We felt really lucky that we already had him in the district as a teacher which he has done a fantastic job with. Having him transition into another thing that he’s successful with in coaching basketball it seemed like a great fit.”

Galpin directed Regina to River Valley Conference South Division titles in each of his three seasons leading the program.

Regina won at least 15 games each of the past three seasons under Galpin highlighted by a 20-3 season that included a state tournament berth in 2019.

Galpin replaces Lesan who stepped down as head coach May 7 after leading Solon to a 7-15 record last season.

“Things kind of lined up and this is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” Galpin said. “This is just a tremendous opportunity for me to not only teach in the same community and coach in the same community but also have the dream of potentially coaching my son.”

As a teacher in the district Galpin followed Solon athletics closely last season.

He followed the basketball program especially closely after developing a tight friendship with Lesan, a fellow fifth-grade teacher at Solon.

“Matt and I teaching together we talked about our teams all year,” Galpin said. “I kept up with him after each game. Each day we kind of had a debriefing of what went well or what didn’t go well or what happened in each of our games.”

Solon defeated Regina 62-60 on a buzzer beater in the lone meeting between the two teams last season.  

“I told my students last year I want Solon to win every state title,” Galpin said. “There was only one date last year I didn’t want to see them win and they won that one too.”

Galpin, who was head coach at Paton-Churdan from 2004 to 2006 and spent time as an assistant at Cedar Rapids Prairie, Jefferson-Scranton and Regina before taking over as the Regals head coach, didn’t see himself as the head coach at Solon when he took the teaching position last fall.

The 31 year-old Lesan had just accepted the head coaching position at his alma mater and Galpin was happy at Regina.

Less than a year after accepting the teaching position Galpin was announced as head coach.

“A lot of things had to fall in place and lot of things had to line up for an opportunity like this,” Galpin said. “It’s almost eerie how it all came together.”

Regina went 15-7 last season despite season-ending injuries to three players expected to be in the starting lineup.

The Regals lost expected starters Nick Wagner and Alec Wick to injury before the season and second-leading scorer Ashton Cook missed the final 13 games of the season with an injury.  

“We had a zoom meeting Saturday morning and I let them know and it was tough to have that moment,” Galpin said. “You build relationships and you are stepping away from that it’s extremely hard but I think they understand. They had a good perspective but it was extremely hard to tell them.”

Solon returns their top five scorers and better than 90 percent of their offensive production from last season.

Seniors Brady Jeworrek, Will Noonan, Carson Shive, Ben Cusick, David Bluder, Drew Turner and Bo Janssen all return with extensive varsity experience along with sophomore Jake Quillin and Kinnick Pusteoska.

“Obviously Solon has a rich tradition in athletics in multiple sports and I’ve seen what they have when playing them year in and year out,” Galpin said. “I am excited, I know that they bring a lot back. I am extremely excited for what the future holds for Solon basketball.”

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