Auburn Mountainview looks to plug holes in coaching roster

Coming to the end of the school year, the Auburn Mountainview coaching roster has a few holes that need to be plugged.

Coming to the end of the school year, the Auburn Mountainview coaching roster has a few holes that need to be plugged.

Among the vacancies are the boys basketball, volleyball and wrestling coaching positions.

After a lifetime spent around wrestling, 22 of them as a coach, Adam France recently stepped down to spend more time with his family.

France began the Auburn Mountainview wrestling program when the school opened in 2005. In past nine years, the Lions had 37 state participants, 18 state placers, and four state champions. Auburn Mountainview also had two top-10 and three top-20 team finishes in the state tournament.

Along with the on-mat performances, the past two seasons the squad received WIAA Academic honors for achieving greater than a 3.0 GPA as a team. This season it had the 120 pound Academic State Champion.

Former Lion grapplers have also found success at the next level, with seven wrestlers earning All-American honors at the national and college levels. France leaves the program in good shape, with five state participants, including two state placers, back for next season.

Also moving on is boys basketball coach Terrence Johnson.

Johnson, who took over the Lions program in 2012 after three years as coach of the Auburn Riverside girls program, said he is moving to Tennessee with his family.

“I will be coaching boys and teaching at Centennial High School in Franklin, Tenn.,” he said. “We had several reasons for looking to move, but this is going to create a great opportunity for me to grow professionally. There is a unique environment in this part of the country with high school athletics. It is also a great school district with really high achieving schools. It is an incredible place to raise a family, and we wanted to get our kids out there before they start school.”

Johnson, who won a state title with the Raven girls in 2010, said the hardest part is leaving the kids.

“Not only are they going to have great success, but I really love those kids,” he said. “It helps me going knowing our Athletic Director, Chris Carr, will get a better coach than me who will take the kids to an even higher level than I would have. But I will miss them a lot.”

Also resigning is volleyball coach Nicole Claudon.

Claudon, a 2007 graduate of Auburn Mountainview, took over the successful program from Momi Bowles in 2012.

Under her leadership the Lions stretched their streak of state 3A tournament appearances to nine. Auburn Mountainview finishing fifth in 2012.

“I am working on getting my teaching certificate and am moving out of state,” Claudon said. “Wish I didn’t have to resign, but life is taking me in a different direction right now. I plan to be back in Auburn someday and make time to coach volleyball somewhere again. I learned a lot as a volleyball player in the Auburn Mountainview High School volleyball program, but learned even more from the players when I was a coach at Auburn Mountainview.”

The school is reviewing applicants for the open positions.

ALSO: The Auburn Riverside wrestling program has hired Kyle Jones to take over its program from Steve Mead.

Jones is a graduate of Auburn Riverside, where he was a four-year varsity letterman and a two-time South Puget Sound North 4A champion at 189 pounds. He placed seventh in his weight class at the 2006 Mat Classic.

Jones has been an assistant coach for the Trojans wrestling program for the past four years and teaches special education at Auburn High School.

He is the son of Auburn High School Athletic Director Bob Jones.