It didn't take Highland High School long to find a replacement for Larry Maxwell.
Clark Godfrey, a Ram assistant who had a successful coaching career at West High School, was named Thursday to replace Maxwell, who is retiring this year after a legendary 32-year career at Highland.Highland principal Charles Shackett said a nine-member committee interviewed seven candidates after narrowing down a large field of applicants. Godfrey was the unanimous choice.
"He has big shoes to fill," said Shackett. "But we feel with his experience as a head coach and knowledge of the community he'll be able to continue the basketball tradition at Highland."
The 57-year-old Godfrey coached at West for 15 years from 1971 to 1985, during which time he took the Panthers to the state tournament 12 times. His teams made the final four six times and won the 4A title in 1975.
He went to BYU-Hawaii, where he was an assistant coach from 1985 to 1987. Since then he has been at Highland, where he has assisted in football and soccer as well as basketball.
Maxwell said Godfrey was an integral part of the Rams' success this year, which culminated in a state championship. "He's a very fine man with a great knowledge about the game," said Maxwell.
Godfrey loses many of the Rams' top players from this year, but he will return starters Todd Christensen and Winston Scott next year.