Jon Froelich

Longview’s St. Mary’s Catholic School has announced the hiring of Jon Froelich as the athletic director.

Froelich will also coach boys’ basketball and cross country for the Knights.

Froelich comes to St. Mary’s after three years as the assistant principal and girls’ basketball coach for Bishop Gorman in Tyler.

With 40 years of experience in education, Froelich was named the TABC Private School Coach of the Year in 2021 by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. He also earned state coaching honors in 1997, as the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) named him Coach of the Year.

He has been named district Coach of the Year 22 times in his career and has 887 career wins at the high school and college level. As a head coach, Froelich has guided his teams to four TAPPS state titles. In 2016, Froelich was the NJCAA Region IX Coach of the Year at McCook Community College in McCook, Nebraska.

He was also the 2016 Nebraska Community College Coach of the Year.

In addition to his coaching and athletic duties, Froelich will also be working in Advancement for St. Mary’s Catholic Church & School.

“I am looking forward to doing everything I can to help St. Mary’s continue to have success and grow, not only in athletic and TAPPS competition, but as a church and school community,” Froelich said. “Working with Father (Daniel P.) Dower and Dr. (Darbie Dallman) Safford (principal) is something I am excited about, as we share the vision of St. Mary’s being a ‘Godly House of Champions’ in Longview.”

After 29 years as the athletic director for St. Mary’s, coach Lucy Knotts will remain on staff, and will be a full-time instructor in the science department.