A man with 43 years experience coaching at the high school and collegiate level is taking over as basketball coach at Suttons Bay School.

Ken Hunter, whose resume includes 13 years as head coach of the University of South Hampton in New York, and stints at Long Island University and in an assistant coaching position at Columbia University, was the lone applicant to fill the position that was vacated early this spring by Keven Cross.

“When it came time to retire, my wife and I checked out places like Lake Tahoe and Hilton Head,” Hunter said. “But, nothing can compare to Leelanau County … It’s one of the finest places we’ve been. We like the winter months.”

Hunter, a former coach at San Francisco State University, served as an assistant to Cross for part of the 2006-07 season. He will be assisted by former coach Todd Hursey, who stepped down for personal reasons after serving as golf and basketball coach in 2005-06.

Hunter is the author of nine articles published in athletic journals. He is perhaps best know for an article on the four basic defensive moves, which is in the basketball hall of fame in Springfield, Mass.

“It takes a full year to teach defense,” Hunter said. “But we’re getting a start with some summer league play.”

Also hired Monday night as an athletic coach was former Cadillac distance runner Mark Smith, who now lives in the county. Smith served as an assistant to high school track coach Cody Inglis this spring. Inglis is stepping down to take an administrative post, as assistant principal for grades 5-8 at Suttons Bay.

“He’s a 3-time state cross country champion and four-time track champion,” Inglis said of Smith, who worked this the track team’s distance runners. “He also holds the state record in the 3,200-meter run.”

Smith was a top-ranked U.S. road racer in the mid 1980s and competed in the Olympic trials in 1984. A graduate of Central Michigan University, where he was a member of the cross country and track teams, Smith is now a building contractor.

Both appointments were approved by a unanimous 6-0 vote by the board Monday night, with Trustee Liz Venie absent.