Life is a circle. Mark James once coached Bryan Graham, his new athletic director at Triton Central. The boys basketball coaching opening filled by James at Triton Central was created when his assistant for 10 years, Kyle Ballard, took the job at Franklin Central, the program where James made his name.

Ballard was officially approved as Franklin Central’s boys basketball coach Monday night, leaving Triton Central after four seasons and two sectional championships. Triton Central moved quickly to hire James, who spent 26 of his 41 seasons coaching at Franklin Central.

James, 68, was looking to coach at a smaller school after the past five seasons at Perry Meridian. His next victory will mark two milestones: His first at Triton Central and the 600^th of his career.

“It’s hard going in behind Kyle,” James said. “I’ve never taken a job where the previous coach was sort of leaving on his own accord like this. But I know when I walk in there, it’s going to be good because of what Kyle was doing.”

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Ballard was 48-46 in four seasons at Triton Central, leading the Tigers to Class 2A sectional championships in 2021 and ’22. He coached on James’ staff at the end of his run at Franklin Central, the entirety of his seven-year tenure at Ben Davis and a year at Perry Meridian.

When Triton Central athletic director and girls basketball coach Bryan Graham was looking for a coach after Perry Nash stepped down in 2019, he called James, who recommended Ballard. Graham played for James at Franklin Central, graduating in 1995.

“He’s really excited about this job,” Graham said of James. “When we talked, it was obvious that more coaching he wanted to do and he didn’t want to be done. He started at a small school at Covington, so it’s kind of come all the way back around.”

The cowboy boots-wearing James, who was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021, is a 1973 Martinsville graduate. He was hired at Covington in 1982 after five seasons as an assistant at Carmel to Larry Angle. After three seasons, he came to Franklin Central in 1985 and stayed for 26 seasons, winning 395 games, eight sectional titles and one regional championship in 2009.

James then went to Ben Davis in 2011 and led the Giants to a Class 4A state championship in 2016-17. He left Ben Davis the following year for Perry Meridian.

James sees some similarities at Triton Central to the Franklin Central job in 1985.

“It’s a place where the community revolves around the school,” James said. “The county schools have gotten so big that they still revolve around the school, but not quite as much. It’s close to home, which is appealing. I started at Covington and really liked it there. I’m going to be able to coach and not teach so after 46 years of getting up at 5 in the morning, I don’t have to do that anymore and my poor wife doesn’t have to do that anymore. I can go to school about lunch time so I’m looking forward to that.”

James said he doesn’t necessarily have a timeline on how long he would like to coach, but with the exception of his first job at Covington he has stayed at least five years at each stop. He said he is excited to have Jordan Dever, a former Southport assistant and Speedway girls basketball coach, joining his staff at Triton Central.

“Unless there’s something health-related or they want to get rid of me, I want to get the program established,” James said. “We got that done at Perry and the younger kids are having success. (New coach Mark McFarland) did a great job with that and I think that will pay off down the road. But as far as one year, two years, three years, I don’t really think of it like that.”

Triton Central was 17-7 last year, falling to Scecina in the sectional championship. The top two scorers graduate, but the Tigers return several experienced players, including freshman Eli Sego and sophomore Silas Blair.

Ballard takes over a Franklin Central program that struggled to a 4-19 record last year under Criss Beyers, who returned to Warren Central after going 36-55 in four years with the Flashes.

“It wasn’t easy to decide to take something else,” Ballard said of leaving Triton Central. “But Franklin Central is where I started back in 2009 as a volunteer coach, my wife went to school there and I have two guys on my staff who played there for Mark. It’s kind of a home base for me and it’s a growing community with a great deal of interest in basketball. It’s bittersweet to leave Triton, though, the way things have developed there the last few years.”

Ballard said he learned a lot from James in a decade of working as an assistant, which prepared him for his first head coaching job.

“I think the No. 1 thing is how professionally you treat people around you,” Ballard said. “He’s an unbelievable person. I think taking over at Triton Central and running a program from top to bottom you try to make the main thing the main thing. You teaching habits needed to be successful on and off the court. With (James), he spent so much time talking about life and what it means to be successful. As a 19-year-old kid my first year with him, being able to watch and learn from him and his staff was so important.”

While Franklin Central has struggled in the win-loss column in recent years, there is a history of basketball success there and some young talent on the roster “well-suited for the style that we like to play,” Ballard said.

“I always felt like in our conference (Indiana Crossroads) at Triton Central, if we could beat the best teams, we could compete with anybody,” he said. “I think that’s true (in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference) and our sectional. If we can compete with those teams, we can beat anybody in the state. It’s great basketball night in and night out with a lot of talent and great coaching.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Triton Central hires Mark James as new boys coach