New Central coach: 'Whatever you want to learn, I'm here to help you learn it'

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CHAMPAIGN — Kris Bell’s basketball roots go back to his childhood in Danville’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Playing in tournaments there launched a career that has included stints at Schlarman and two different semi-pro teams, Danville’s former Coal Miners and Riverhawks clubs.

“I came up in the Keon Clark era, where Bud Gouard used to have Post tournaments and anybody that was anybody would go there,” Bell said. “The thing I discovered as I got older was not that I could play the game at a high level, but I could teach it and facilitate it.”

Bell — who will take over Champaign Central’s girls’ basketball program this winter — had the chance to pursue a professional basketball career in Spain.

Watching his daughter pick up a ball of her own put a stop to that.

“I noticed my five-year-old daughter chucking a ball up at a 10-foot rim and she was making it,” Bell said. “Once I noticed that, my whole attention kind of changed.”

Now, years later, Kris Bell and daughter Jada will both be in the Big 12 Conference this winter, with Kris at the helm of the Maroons’ program and Jada as a sophomore at Danville.

It’s a landscape that the elder Bell has gotten familiar with since being named coach in May.

“They felt that I was adequate enough to be blessed to try to take over and take the baton and try to carry it from here,” Bell said.

And Bell is eager to lead the Maroons, who compiled a 85-132 record in eight seasons under former coach Pancho Moore.

“(Pancho and I) knew each other from the coaching circuit, so we are really good friends,” Bell said. “We do touch base with each other and he offered some really good advice in terms of schools they play and how it’s structured in the Big 12.”

Bell’s interview process slightly predated new Central athletic director Patrick Cox, who officially started his role on July 1.

But the process was nonetheless thorough, with input from former AD Jane Stillman, Unit 4 Superintendent Shelia Boozer and several school board members.

“He’s got the right mindset and the right skill set to really propel our girls to the next level,” Cox said. “He just brings a lot to the table as far as real-life basketball experiences, as I would call it, where he’s going to bring his knowledge to the game and transform that to the players.”

Cox, for his part, has met with nearly all of the Maroons’ coaches since taking over from Stillman, with even more assistants to meet at Central’s coaching kickoff in early August.

“I have a great amount of coaches that are in it for the right reasons and doing the best they can, really building solid programs,” Cox said. “I’m excited to be here in Champaign, especially here at Central.”

And Cox inherits a coach that most recently manned the sidelines at Schlarman, with heavy ties to the Hilltoppers’ mini-dynasty in the late 2010s.

Bell’s daughter Sierra helped usher in an era of Hilltoppers girls’ basketball that included back-to-back Class 1A titles in 2018-19.

“That was really amazing,” Bell said. “Fast forwarding a little bit and her sister comes along and kind of shows the same effect, so I kind of started molding her ... it forced me into kind of creating a business out of it and I started getting booked.”

Bell inherits a roster led by talented shooter Alex Parastaran and Khalia Williams, whom Bell cites as having a high motor.

The group’s buy-in has impressed Bell throughout the summer program.

“One of the key things that I’ve learned is being able to manage egos and emotions and stay balanced through it all,” Bell said. “The hunger that these young ladies have is really impressive to me.”

“That was my commitment to them, in terms of whatever you want to learn, I’m here to help you learn it.”