The Little Miami athletic department is excited to announce that its search for LMHS' next track & field coaching staff yielded a familiar family name to lead the Panthers program! Since 2019, James "Jim" Brant has been an assistant coach with Little Miami's distance program in track & field and also with the cross county team in the fall. Now in 2023, Jim will be nominated for approval as Little Miami's next head coach for the boy's side of the track & field program, and his wife Lynn will be nominated to lead the girl's side. With that, Jim and Lynn will be building their support staff with both returning and new assistant coaches. In addition, they will delegate duties within the program where each coach has specific teaching and coaching specialties.
Both of the Brant's bring an extensive coaching background to Little Miami. Since 1994, Lynn has been employed with Kings Local Schools. She taught math and computer science at the Junior High from 1994 until 2000, and for the last 22 years has taught the same course areas at the High School. Lynn received he BS in secondary education from the University of Akron in 1994, and earned a master of arts in teaching from the University of Cincinnati in 2002.
Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Brant's coaching accolades are equally impressive. She was involved with the Knights cross country from 1994 to 2018 and on the track from 1995 until 2018. During that time, Lynn was honored as the honored as the FAVC Cross Country Coach of the Year an amazing eight times (1999, 00, 01, 02, 05, 07, 08, and 10), and the ECC Cross Country Coach of the Year, twice (2015 and 17). In addition, she was tabbed the ECC track & field Coach of the Year in 2018. Coach Brant lists her event areas of specialty as sprints, hurdles, high jump, and is USATF certified in coaching pole vault too. From 2019 though 2022, Lynn assisted with the Loveland Tigers track program as an assistant. Mrs. Brant has advanced numerous student-athletes far into the OHSAA postseason, but more importantly, she has been an inspirational mentor leading young people throughout her professional career.
"We are elated with the results of the coaching search for our track and field program! Both Jim and Lynn bring extensive coaching resumes and accolades to Little Miami," said athletic director Matt Louis. "Obviously, their credentials speak for themselves, but it is their passion for leading and coaching young people that rose to the forefront for our committee. Their excitement to lead the Panther programs together for the foreseeable future gives our leadership team great confidence that the student-athletes of Little Miami will receive top-notch coaching which will result in both personal and team success well into the future," Louis concluded.
Jim Brant received his associate of applied science degree from the University of Akron in 1992 and then joined Kings Local Schools professionally in 1997, where he has been employed as a paraprofessional at KJHS since. Coach Brant led the Kings cross country and track and field teams from 1994 until 2019, and has been a Panther coach since 2020. In addition, he coached wrestling with Kings from 1996 until 2016.
During his time in Kings Mills, Jim was named the FAVC track & field Coach of the Year five times (2005, 06, 06, 07 and 09), and when the Knights moved into the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, he earned The Conference Coach of the Year titles again in 2014 and 2016. Making that seven top league honors on the track, in total.
In cross country, Jim is a 14-time Coach of the Year recipient! In the FAVC, he garnered that honor nine times overall (1999, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 10, and 11), and achieved the top award six more times in the powerful Eastern Cincinnati Conference (2013,14,16, 17 and 18). Brant has coached nearly 50 student-athletes during his career that have moved on to participate at the collegiate level.
"We are so excited to be coaching together again in the same District," said Mrs. Brant. "Jim and I plan to deliver a wonderful program for student-athletes that builds upon the foundation that's currently here, while also catapulting our success to levels that will be a model for programs around Ohio."
