Jim Sykes is no longer the interim head basketball coach at Morningside College, he has been given the job permanently. Sykes took over in the middle of last season when Jerry Schmutte took an eight-week medical leave and led the Mustangs to a 9-3 finish which included a share of the Great Plains Conference title. He says it was unfortunate the coach had to go through that, but he says the guys were focused and dedicated themselves in the offseason.Schmutte resigned as coach at the end of the season but will stay on as athletic director. Sykes says he didn’t know what direction they were gonna go in, and he ended up meeting with the athletic director and he says the rest is history.Sykes says after the success of this past season he feels good about the direction of the program. He says going into the season they didn’t have a lot of respect from other people, as he says they didn’t know much about them, and he says they didn’t do well in the past. He says they snuck up on some people early and got some confidence and ended up being a good team.Morningside finished this past season with a record of 18-13.
