Edmond North's boys basketball team loses another coach

EDMOND — The seniors on next year’s Edmond North boys basketball team will play for their fourth coach.

Quinn Wooldridge, who was hired last summer, resigned to become head coach at Southwestern Christian University in Bethany. Wooldridge will replace Mark Arthur, the school’s athletic director who has been basketball coach for 20 years.

Wooldridge was a men’s basketball assistant at Oklahoma City University before taking the Edmond North job, and was previously McAlester’s head coach from 2003-2005.

Edmond North athletic director Tom Snider said Wooldridge’s departure is disappointing because the boys basketball program, which was 5-18 this season, needs stability.

“(Before he was hired), one of the main things we talked about was getting stability with this program,” Snider said. “But, life happens, as they say.”

Snider said he hopes to have a new coach hired before the May school board meeting, and that long-term stability will again be one of the main criteria in making a hire.

“It was hard to go down there and tell those kids that this has happened again,” Snider said. “The kids were really disappointed.”