FSHS boys basketball coach Chuck Law instructs his team during a game against LHS on Friday, Feb. 27.

Chuck Law is moving from the hardwood to the putting green.

Law was announced as Free State’s boys golf coach on Tuesday, replacing Matt Gudenkauf who resigned at the end of last season. Adam Barmann, a co-offensive coordinator for the football team, will be the assistant coach.

Law, who stepped down as the school’s boys basketball coach in March, coached boys golf at Emporia High for two years in 1998 and ’99.

“We’re thrilled to have Chuck remain a part of our coaching staff,” Free State athletic director Mike Hill said. “His previous experience as head golf coach at Emporia High School and his relationship with students here in our school is going to be really beneficial for our kids. We’re excited to have him aboard.”

Along with his previous coaching experience, Law had plenty of success playing the sport. He turned down a golf scholarship to Emporia State University out of high school to attend Kansas University.

“It’s been a long time but I really enjoyed my time doing it then,” Law said of coaching golf. “Certainly something that I’d always hoped would present itself. Golf coaching jobs don’t come open very often. Usually guys get in them and stay in them for a long period of time because it’s a fun job.”

Gudenkauf left Free State to take a job with KU Endowment after coaching the Firebirds for 10 seasons. He led Free State to third place in the Sunflower League last spring and sixth place at the Class 6A state tournament.

“Each year we progressively got better,” Gudenkauf said. “The culture of the team got stronger. Yeah, I think the program as a whole is pretty strong. I am just tickled to death that it is Chuck Law that is going to be taking my spot. … There’s really not a better person to jump right in and take it to new levels.”

Gudenkauf texted and emailed his former players when he decided to leave teaching and coaching in May, and he received “nothing but support” from them.

“It was pretty tough,” Gudenkauf said of leaving the golf team. “It certainly weighed on my decision to leave teaching in general. I even did try to look at it and see if it was something that I could hang on to, but with my new position, it just wouldn’t work.”

Law will start next spring with a team capable of finishing near the top of the Sunflower League. The Firebirds are expected to return plenty of firepower from last year’s squad.

“I’m really excited about that,” Law said. “There’s three guys back that were a part of the team that qualified for state last year. Obviously with the two Jacks (Jack Flynn and Jack Junge), you have two really high-quality players. And Tate Steele had a really good freshman campaign last year.

“I know there’s some guys on the junior-varsity team that are just waiting for the opportunity for next year. A couple of kids that, I think, are coming into the freshmen class are pretty good players so it’s nice to have that kind of depth of talent right away.”

Barmann told Law about the open position in May and Law was immediately interested in becoming a golf coach again.

“Matt Gudenkauf did a great job,” Law said. “He really established, especially the last four or five years, Free State as a very solid program in the league and in state competition. I’m just fortunate to have the opportunity to kind of build upon what he’s gotten going of late and hope that we can continue with it.”