MARTINS FERRY — As it pertains to coaching girls’ basketball, Dave Reasbeck feels like he never left.

Reasbeck is returning to the sidelines for his second tour of duty as the head girls basketball coach at Martins Ferry High School after Thursday evening’s formal board of education approval.

“It honestly feels like I am just getting ready for a new season,” Reasbeck said. “I am excited to be back and can’t wait to get started.”

Reasbeck takes over for Paul Matuska, whose contract wasn’t renewed after a two-year stint. Since Reasbeck last coached at Martins Ferry, the Riders were also coached by Lindsay Coyne for five years.

“I am taking over a team that has everyone coming back and talented players all the way down through the fifth grade, so we should be alright,” Reasbeck said. “We have size and we have kids with some skill. I am very excited about this.”

Reasbeck has been out of coaching since a one-year stint as head boys coach at St. John Central in 2014-15.

Prior to accepting the Irish job, he was the head coach of the Riders’ girls team for eight seasons and led the Purple to the 2009 OVAC Class 3A title. He also guided his team to a district tournament appearance during his tenure.

“Coaching is coaching,” Reasbeck said. “I am probably more settled down than I was 10 years ago. I have two kids of my own now and I’ve grown up a lot since then. I am still going to coach hard and our kids are going to play hard, play to win and hopefully have fun.”

All told, Reasbeck owns a 104-79 career record with 92 of those wins coming at Martins Ferry.

To hear him tell it, Reasbeck didn’t really have the coaching juices start to flow again until he watched the Shadyside girls basketall team make its run to the Division IV state tournament in March. His brother-in-law, Brandon Parr, is the Tigers’ chief assistant and his two sons, Brody (6) and Mason (4), served as managers for the team.

“I was sitting there (in Columbus) watching Shadyside play and thought, ‘I want to (coach) again,'” Reasbeck said. “This job at Ferry came open and the time was right. My wife (Danielle) and my kids all wanted me to do it, so I decided to apply.”

Since being informed that he would be recommended for hiring to the board of education, Reasbeck has wated little time in getting his summer schedule organized.

“As soon as school lets out, we’re going to get rolling,” Reasbeck said. “We’ll be in a couple of shootouts and spend a lot of time implementing the system, which is going to see us press and shoot 3s. I think we’ll have 10 or 11 girls who can play, so we’ll see if it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll have to come up with Plan B.”

With an experienced roster from a team that played much better in the second half of the season and qualified for the OVAC Tournament in Class 4A, Reasbeck isn’t shying away from the expectations.

“It’s time to win,” Reasbeck said. “I plan on winning. I know (defending OVAC champion) Beaver has a really good player (Jenna Riccardo) back, but we plan on being in the (OVAC) mix and also in the sectional and district mix. We plan on being right there.”

Reasbeck has started the process of putting together a coaching staff, but nothing has been finalized.