Ashburn

(Apr. 9, 2007) - New Oakton High School boys basketball coach Chuck McDaniel

confirmed Monday that his uncle Charlie Thompson -- a fixture in Northern Region

basketball circles for 25 years with stops at Lee, Robinson, Oakton and

Hayfield, before he retired two years ago -- has agreed to become a part-time

assistant for McDaniel.

Thompson is

the last Northern Region boys basketball coach to win a VHSL AAA state title

with Lee in 1981. He later coached at Robinson and then Oakton before Thompson

was forced out by then Oakton activities director Sandy Reynolds in 2000. He

took over the Hayfield program and led the Hawks to a regional title in 2002,

ironically with a victory over Oakton in the regional title game. In all,

Thompson led all four of his Northern Region teams to regional title games and

he netted four regional titles total.

The family

connections for McDaniel will run deep at Oakton as the Cougars football coach

Joe Thompson, is the son of Charlie Thompson and cousin of McDaniel. Joe

Thompson, something of a basketball coach himself, led the Cougar football

program to a VHSL AAA Division 6 state football title in 2005.

McDaniel

(pictured-right) reports that Charlie Thompson will "work a few days a week for us, but from a

kids standpoint his coaching will be invaluable."

McDaniel, a

teacher at Park View High School in Sterling where he was a three-sport

standout, currently is the junior varsity head basketball coach and a varsity

assistant under Sonny Green at Stone Bridge. McDaniel's son Brent, just finished

a brilliant four-year varsity career with the Bulldogs.

McDaniel

will replace Dave Spannbauer, who was not asked to return after compiling a 9-14

record in his first season as head coach for the Cougars.

Spannbauer

took over after Chris Dux left after two seasons because of personal reasons and

Dux was hired after Chris Kuhblank departed Oakton for Madison. McDaniel becomes

the fourth Oakton head boys basketball coach in five years.

McDaniel

has a B.A. in sociology and is currently working on a Master's in Special

Education at George Mason University.  He is a Special Education teacher at Park

View, teaching basic skills, world and U.S. history.

A native of

Sterling, McDaniel played three sports for the Patriots and excelled in baseball

where he was invited to try-out camps for the St. Louis Cardinals and the

Pittsburgh Pirates before an arm injury ended his baseball

career.

McDaniel

has previously coached basketball at R.E. Lee High School in Springfield and

baseball at Potomac Falls High School. He currently resides in Ashburn with his

wife Kim and two children and a dog "Jeter".

When

Spannbauer's departure was announced after the season, it was also announced

that Cougar assistant coach Mike Desmond also was no longer with the

program.

reprinted with permission -

for the best in high school sports news in Loudoun County visit:

Click Here to view this Link.