APPLETON (NBC 26) — This past season, the Appleton North boys basketball program under head coach Chris Kellett made program history by making their first state tournament appearance where they almost knocked off powerhouse Wisconsin Lutheran, who won the Division 1 title.

But after the season, Kellett stepped down and in comes John Nonemacher, who is trying to uphold the high standard Kellett has set.

"I'm grateful to Coach Kellett and all that they did here to kind of build this program up and there's a responsibility for me in that sense to make sure that I'm putting my best energy and effort towards maintaining that," Nonemacher said.

He describes himself as a basketball nerd that has a lot of passion, and Nonemacher brings lots of basketball knowledge to the Lightning. He played at UW-Stout, professionally overseas, was a video analyst for the Portland Trail Blazers and most recently was a head coach at a high school in Colorado for eight years.

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Nonemacher takes over Appleton North basketball program following historic season

"I loved being a head coach. All the ups and downs, challenges, all those things," Nonemacher said. "I think being in the building, getting to know the community, teachers, school, you know, as a head coach, you're kind of a vessel to try to do the best you can for that community, and that was something that really stood out to me."

While he's not trying to reinvent the wheel for a program coming off their best season, he does have a vision for how he wants his Appleton North squad to play.

"Ideally, I like to be aggressive. I like to let athletes fly. I like to mix things up defensively. I want to be a difficult scout for teams, but simple for our guys who are running it," Nonemacher said.

The Lightning only return one of their top five scorers from last season, so some new guys will have to step up. And their head coach said for them to be competitive, it all starts with the little things right.

"Everyone loves to do like crossover step backs up, man, do the little things great, do the little things great," Nonemacher said. "Your habits are your details and um and we do the little things great and that's what that's what makes players really, really well."

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