A longtime assistant at Lawrence Free State, he has pursued coaching positions at a wide range of school, from Shawnee Mission East to McLouth, but has always had and interest in THS. In recent months, that interest was accelerated.

Frost, who will teach psychology and government at THS, was named the school’s newest girls basketball coach last month.

“This job always has been appealing to me,” Frost said. “Just being that it’s so close to Lawrence and not a super small school.”

Frost, 35, actually had a decision to make when offered the opportunity to teach and coach at THS — a position at another school also was on the table. In the end, THS won out.

“I’ve just always liked the location and the size of the school and they have had a lot of success here with girls basketball,” Frost said. “That was a big part of it, too,”

A 1997 Shawnee Heights High School graduate in Topeka, Frost earned a bachelor’s in 2004 from Kansas State University. He coached 11 years in Lawrence, four at West Junior High and then seven at Free State. Frost coached sophomore and junior varsity while at FSHS and also was a varsity assistant.

Though Frost is still getting to know his team, he has had some opportunities to assess their play and how they work together.

“We actually have had a handful of practices and played summer league games at Perry-Lecompton and Atchison,” Frost said.

The team has played in MAYB tournaments in Topeka and will play in another this weekend.

“I’ve been trying to get in as much gym time with them as I can,” Frost said.

This week, the team is in the THS gymnasium for its summer camp. Monday’s session finished with an exciting competition between the varsity and junior varsity squads. The teams had to make 10 consecutive layups, 10 free throws and 10 three-pointers before nailing a half-court shot.

Players on Monday’s varsity team celebrated after Taylor Lee drained a half-court shot after both teams just missed on several shots.

Frost replaces David Hall, who resigned after one year at the helm. Hall had said the stint was to be a short-term plan from the beginning, a way to bridge Randy Kraft’s long tenure as coach to a more permanent leader.

Enter Frost, who said he has basketball philosophies that mirror that of past THS teams: press on defense and an up-tempo offense.

“We’re going to pressure a lot on defense and just like every other coach says, ‘get out and run,” he said. “But I really want to have the grittiest team in the league.

“I want to have the team that the next day after a game, whoever we played they’re going to really remember who they played the night before.”

The squad has seven upperclassmen with four seniors and three juniors. Seniors for 2015-16 are Cheyenne Ford, Kaitlin Hall, Emily Eberth and Mackenzie Price.

“It’s going to be a process, but at same time, we have upperclassmen who have played together,” Frost said. “I think it will help with the transition.