Klaus, who spent the last seven seasons as head baseball coach at Rosebud-Lott, was approved and hired by the Rogers school board on July 8 as the head baseball and assistant varsity football coach.
“It’s a little closer to home,” said Klaus, who lives in Temple. “It’s a good baseball program as well. It was just time for a change.
“Those (Rosebud-Lott) kids were good to me and the town of Rosebud was good to me. It was a tough decision, but I think it was right for me.”
While at Rosebud-Lott, Klaus, who replaced current Salado coach Melvin Bates, went 145-40 and reached the playoffs six times. In 2004, he led the Cougars to the Region III finals before losing to eventual Class 2A state champion Nacogdoches Central Heights.
In his final year, Rosebud-Lott finished 21-7 and lost the tiebreaker with Troy for 25-2A’s final playoff spot.
Prior to Rosebud-Lott, Klaus spent five years as head baseball coach at Moody, three years as an assistant at Coldspring-Oakhurst and one year as an assistant at White Oak.
“He’s had the experience. He had great references and he’s won quite a few games,” said first-year Rogers athletic director Jeff Walker, who said he received about 30 applications for the job. “It really boiled down to the experience and references.”
Klaus replaces Craig Coheley, who had a 135-34-1 in five seasons and coached Rogers to the University Interscholastic League Class 2A championship in 2007, before resigning on June 10 and moving to Class 3A Farmersville.
Rosebud-Lott athletic director Kyle Maxfield said he plans on filling the Cougars’ coaching vacancy at tonight’s school board meeting.
The recent UIL realignment put Rosebud-Lott in Region III and District 20-2A for the next two years while Rogers remains in Region IV and District 25-2A.
The Eagles return eight starters - Chance Marek, Cameron Doskocil, Travis Perkins, Gregory Mendoza, Ryan Fares, Dustin Hamilton, Jordan Sebek and Stephen Hines - to a squad that finished 26-10, finished district as runner-up to eventual 2A state champion Salado and advanced to the Region IV quarterfinals before losing to Lexington.
“It’s a new chapter and a new challenge,” said Klaus, whose Cougars’ squad went 1-2 against Rogers last season. “They have a lot of good kids coming back and it’ll be fun.”
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