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By Brian Moore
Sports Writer

HUGO — According to Hugo Schools Superintendent Tony Daugherty, Hugo fast-pitch and baseball coach Brent Shaw resigned on Thursday morning. Hours later, Hugo’s football coach Daryl Williamson also resigned. Each coach stated personal reasons for resigning.
Shaw’s fall softball team was district champions with a record of 19-9. Shaw also coached some of the younger kids at the middle school during basketball season. While high school sports is often the focus of local fans, Shaw’s work with the younger kids was exceptional and should be noted. In the spring, he coached the boys team to reportedly the Buffs first-ever 20-loss baseball season. There was plenty of young talent and a definitive positive outlook for the future. Shaw clicked with the girls team and for baseball, it was going to take some time to build a program.
One common complaint around town is of Hugo Schools losing quality players when they move to Soper or Fort Towson. It is presumed that a quality baseball program would entice the kids to stay. After the resignation, we’ll have to wait and see if Hugo can produce a baseball team that wins year-in, year-out. Hopefully Shaw started the process and those young players will shine in 2011 with some experience under their belt.
Williamson’s football team had a record of 4-6 with four losses to top 20 teams.
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to coach at Hugo High School, being around the kids and getting to work with everybody,” Williamson said.
Despite the common misconception, Hugo football does not have a favorable win-loss history, having only seven winning football seasons in the last 25 years. Williamson was building a program from the ground up. He checked on students in classrooms, met them early at the fieldhouse to lift weights and kept in touch with their parents. In just one year, he has been instrumental in helping to improve the mindset of students at Hugo High and they seemed to relate very well with him. “He did a great job for us. It is our loss. We hope we can find someone who can come in and keep the same good attitude. Those kids’ attitude about playing was totally different,” Daugherty said.

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