Ivan Chambers returns to varsity basketball as Liberty makes two big hires

Liberty athletic director Michael Sibley can breathe a sigh of relief, heading into the summer with two giant items crossed off his to-do list.

Sibley announced Friday that he had made hires for head coaches in boys' basketball and volleyball -- bringing aboard a familiar face on the area scene and giving another her first official prep position.

Ivan Chambers joins the Lancers in basketball, while Danielle Miller takes over in volleyball.

"Especially with the fall rolling in and these being two high-profile programs, it's good to get done," Sibley said. "The students and the parents are excited."

Chambers is well-known locally after a long and successful stint as the girls coach at Air Academy. With the Lancers, he will inherit a program that went 12-11 last year (tying for second in the 5A Metro) and loses just three seniors who averaged 2.0 points.

Brothers AJ (15.5 points per game as a sophomore) and Garet Bohuslavsky (10.3 ppg as a junior) are both back, as is Matt Love (11 ppg) and Brandon Wilburn (9.6 ppg) as Liberty sports a deep returning nucleus.

"We have a pretty solid ninth-grade class, too," said Sibley, who added that current and retired high school coaches and even college coaches were among the 20 applicants to replace Travis Clark. "We had a nice pool to choose from."

Sibley knew Chambers from their time at Air Academy, where Sibley was an assistant principal and Chambers the girls' basketball coach. After leaving the Kadets under circumstances that were never made clear in December 2010, Chambers returned to the sideline this past season as the coach of Liberty's girls' C-team.

Chambers will continue to teach science at Air Academy unless a position becomes available at Liberty.

The Lancers volleyball team will enter next year with Miller as its third coach in as many years following Karen Warnock and Carissa Cowan.

Miller, a Doherty graduate, had an All-American NAIA career at William Jewell near Kansas City, and has been coaching for Altitude, a local club program.

"She's a great fit, we're very excited about the opportunity to land her," Sibley said. "She's been coaching high school kids in the club programs but this is her first official high school gig."