By BRIAN ROSENER | DAR Sports Editor

In a word, the Poplar Bluff fall sports season new but at the same time it's also familiar.

* There's a new athletic director, but Jim Brown is entering his 20th year at Poplar Bluff.

* There are new coaches for the football, soccer, softball and volleyball programs, but two of them are alumni who were assistant coaches last year.

The new coach of the girls tennis team, Michelle Massey, held the position two years ago and is also an alumni. The only coach back from last fall, Beth Lewis, is starting only her second season heading the cross country program.

The familiar settings for the Mules have also gotten something new this fall -- air conditioning has been added to Peters Gym, concession stands are being built at the softball and baseball fields, while new grass is growing at Morrow Stadium and the practice field at Bacon Park.

Even the iconic Mule logo has gotten a makeover and the program has a new Web site, pbmules.com.

"We're excited about all the changes and we feel like all the changes are in a positive direction," Brown said.

When teams start practice Monday, it will be the first official practice for four new head coaches.

"I can't hardly wait," football coach Shane Kearbey said. "We came off a great two weeks of camp and everybody was very positive and enthusiastic

. "I think we've got a good start and I can't wait to get back Monday and see if that fire is still there." Coming off a 5-5 season in which the Mules lost a district title showdown with West Plains, 21-6, Poplar Bluff can return seven defensive starters and 10 starters on offense.

Looking to win the program's first district title since 2000, Kearbey has put together a staff full of former Mules who have done just that -- Jeff Mannon, who played on the 2000 and 1998 squads, Jason Dowd (1990), Brian Wisdom (1990) and Chris Rushin (1984) are new assistant coaches. Lamont Frazier, who won the Carr Trophy as a senior at Charleston in 1989, joins the staff as the receivers coach while David Sievers returns as lineman coach along with defensive coordinator Kenny Dale Rowland and assistants Lance Bell and Justin Shell. Jason Lance, the junior high coach, returns along with Vic Clark.

Kearbey himself was the quarterback on the 1990 squad that finished the regular season undefeated and hopes to bring that excitement back to the community.

"I remember back when I was a kid, Friday night football was a social event," Kearbey said. "That's how I kind of want to get it back to. Every Friday night, they know if the Mules are in town or on the road and they're going to be coming with us."

The Mules open the season with two road games -- at New Madrid on Aug. 29 and at Union on Sept. 5 -- before hosting Hannibal on Saturday, Sept. 13.

For Kearbey, pacing the sidelines as the head coach for the Poplar Bluff Mules is a dream job.

Kearbey said he's passed up head coaching jobs at other schools to remain an assistant coach at his alma matre under the past three head coaches.

"When I got into education my whole goal was to come back here and be the head football coach at Poplar Bluff," he said. "Probably if I weren't coaching at Poplar Bluff, I wouldn't be coaching football."

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Mike Berry is no stranger to the Poplar Bluff volleyball program. He's been an assistant coach at the junior high and high school level in each of the past two seasons, but during his time as a student, he was the team manager since his seventh grade year.

"It's a great opportunity," Berry said. "It's the only place I'd want to be coaching."

A 2001 graduate of Poplar Bluff, Berry played volleyball at Missouri Baptist and has been around the game as long as he can remember. Berry's mother, Robin, and aunts played in the Park Department league while his older brothers Matt and Marcus use to drag him out to the yard for games.

"I always thought it was fun," Berry said. "It seemed like I spent every evening at the lower gym watching volleyball."

Berry's new assistant coach, Megan Moe, is an alum and was a two-time all-district setter before graduating in 2005.

"Megan and I are both from Poplar Bluff and we both have a desire to see the program succeed," Berry said.

Another big change for the program this year is the addition of air conditioning to Peters Gym. In the past, the team had to adjust practice times because of the late-summer heat. The Lady Mules have just six home matches starting with Sept. 18, but a cooler gym will help the team every day.

"I think it's going to be a little easier to get more done, get a little more accomplished because they're not going to be physically exhausted from the heat," Berry said. "At the same time, the conditioning from the heat gives you a little more of an advantage because you're used to it."

Last year the Lady Mules finished 15-15-2 losing in the first round of the district tournament while Berry's JV team was 17-10-4.

Berry said he wants the Lady Mules to adopt an aggressive style of play.

"I'm nervous but I'm really excited to see what we have (Monday)," he said.

Berry took 12 players to a camp at the University of Nebraska this summer and had 81 at the Lady Mules youth camp for grades 3-8.

"I really enjoy watching kids grow and develop," Berry said. "It's just seeing a kid understand a new concept or a new skill, just really loving the game, that's probably the best thing about it."

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New soccer coach Derek Reasons wants to get kids in Poplar Bluff hooked on the sport he grew up playing in Warrenton and later in college at Missouri Valley.

"That's going to be the biggest key is getting the (youth) program going as far as the younger age (groups)," Reasons said. "Get more kids interested, keeping them interested through that time and traveling where they can play indoor or play in the spring."

As part of that, Reasons will host a free soccer skills clinic at 2 p.m. today at Whiteley Park for players age 7 and older. Reasons hopes to work with parents as well as the Optimist Soccer League to build the Mules soccer program for the future.

This season, the Mules can return 16 lettermen from a team that finished 5-19-1.

"I'm really excited about Monday for getting the practice going and seeing the number of boys we're going to have for a turnout," Reasons said.

Reasons has been an assistant coach for two schools in the Springfield area following his graduation from Missouri State in 2004. This is his first head coaching position and he will also be the head coach for the Lady Mules team in the spring.

Since his parents were raised in Puxico, Reasons is familiar with Southeast Missouri but he said he's unfamiliar with the skill level of the players in the area.

"A lot of them don't play in the offseason. That's a huge concern for me," Reasons said. "Trying to work on that with the Poplar Bluff Soccer Club, trying to get things going on that end."

Reasons got an introduction to his new team this summer when he took 17 high school players to Quincy, Ill., for a team camp.

He hopes for more offensive production from the Mules this season after the team scored only 26 goals in 25 games last season.

"I'm wanting to have a change in that," Reasons said. "(I want a) very offensive attack as well as an organized, structured defense as well."

The Mules are on the road until Sept. 15 when they host Kennett, the first of nine home dates.

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Dustin Benson came to Poplar Bluff looking to become an assistant basketball coach and he ended up becoming the new softball coach as well.

Benson, who played basketball and baseball at Twin Rivers and coached a Legion baseball team in the past, said there are fewer differences between baseball and softball than he first thought.

"I thought it was going to be a huge transition," he added. "The more I get into it, the more I realize it's actually closer to the same than I thought. And I'm glad."

The Lady Mules can return nine players from a team that finished 18-8 but lost six starters.

"I want the girls to get better from day to day, week to week," said Benson, who coached at Puxico last season. "By the time districts get here, I want us to be peaking at that time. I want us to keep progressing until we get to that point where we're at our highest level."

Benson, who graduated from Twin Rivers in 2000, played baseball in college at Crowley's Ridge and graduated from Arkansas State while his assistant coaches, Lisa Wilson and Laura Keown, played softball.

"Not only will they grow as softball players but hopefully we can, me and my assistant coaches, somehow try to teach life lessons during softball every day. That's part of coaching."

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The changes at Poplar Bluff didn't happen overnight with the arrival of a new athletic director.

Even before Brown was hired, former AD Bill Caputo put much of the staff in place and many of the new additions to the program were in the planning stages.

"I still depend on him to help me get things lined out on a few things here," Brown said of Caputo.

All of the new features to the Mules athletic program had some help along the way, be it from the administration, the booster clubs, the city, the Kiwanis Club, or donations from the public. Brown said when the community and the school work together, great things happen.

"We've made a lot of changes throughout the campus and throughout the district," Brown said. "But one thing I've told the administration, as long as I'm AD, I'm going to do everything I can to make our program and our facilities the best they can be.

"That's what it's all about."