New Bishop Seabury Academy boys basketball coach Jamelle Blunt.

Longtime assistant coach Jamelle Blunt has been named the new head coach of the Bishop Seabury Academy boys basketball program.

Blunt, 33, takes over for Jonathan Raney, who left the program after leading BSA to the state semifinals last season. Blunt worked as an assistant under Raney for all three of Raney’s seasons at BSA and also was with the program for four seasons before Raney took over.

With the departure of a few seniors and a couple of underclassmen who are headed to prep schools, Seabury’s squad will have a much different look than it did during the 2019-20 season.

“It feels kind of crazy right now because I coached these kids with the JV and now they’re going to be my varsity guys,” Blunt said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m very excited about the opportunity and the chance to see what I can do when it’s my turn to run the ship.”

Originally from Kansas City, Kan., Blunt played basketball at Sumner High School during his prep days before attending Kansas State University for two years.

From there, he moved to Lawrence to start a family and is now the father of 2-year-old twins and in the process of finishing up his secondary education degree at Washburn University.

While the role of varsity head coach will be new for Blunt, the players he coaches will not be. He’s familiar with many of them from the junior varsity ranks, and he believes there’s enough talent to keep the program moving in the right direction.

Blunt said senior point guard Stavian Jones will play a major role in the transition, going from a quality second or third option on a stacked team to the go-to guy and a leader his senior year.

He also noted that past JV standouts and varsity role players Sam Hertzog and Gobind Singh, from the junior class, and sophomore guards Truman Hill and Enzo Karam also will inherit much bigger roles.

So far, during summer conditioning, Blunt said the chemistry and excitement among the team was right where he hoped it would be.

“We’re just getting after it,” Blunt said. “And it’s been really fun watching the kids compete and connecting with them in this new role.”

Shortly after Blunt accepted the job, he said he got texts from a few of the players, who congratulated him and told him they were ready to get to work.

“They were pretty excited and told me they knew what I was capable of doing,” Blunt said. “That felt good. With my familiarity and history with the school and these kids, I think it was really just an easy transition for everybody.”

Blunt said his coaching style is made up of three key principles — play fast, defend and rebound. But there’s one broader principle that he thinks will benefit him and the program more in his first year.

“My whole mindset is just basically having positivity,” he said. “We had such a great year last year and we’re just trying to keep that going and still striving to be great. We still have high expectations, and we’re going to work hard to keep trying to reach those.”