RAPID CITY - St. Thomas More has a new wrestling coach and it is a name Black Hills area wrestling fans should be familiar with.

The Cavaliers have hired Nick Durham to be its head coach, replacing Bo Secrest who moved to a new job in Washington state. Durham comes to St. Thomas More after spending three years as the head coach in Spearfish.

"I look forward to the opportunities and challenges of building a wrestling program at St. Thomas More that their school and the community of Rapid City can be proud of," Durham said. "This move to More also allows me to be near my wife, Jennifer, and our three kids since we have lived in Rapid City the past three years."

While at Spearfish, Durham coached one state champion, a runner-up and four other state place winners. Prior to coaching in Spearfish, Durham was a middle school wrestling coach in Colorado for two years.

"We are fortunate to be able to hire Nick as our wrestling coach," St. Thomas More activities director Craig Nowotny said. "I look forward to working with him and watching him build our wrestling program into a successful program that fits in with our vision here at St. Thomas More."

The Cavaliers finished 29th at the 2008 Class B state wrestling tournament in Sioux Falls. More finished with 21 points, more than 125 points behind state champion Wagner.

Durham said he has watched St. Thomas More for a couple of years, and he likes the talent that is on the roster.

"It is an up-and-coming program and I want to make sure I'm a part of that as it comes along," Durham said. "After watching for a few years, since More goes to many of the same tournaments as Spearfish, I've watched guys like James Wilson grow over the last few year. He finished as a runner-up last year and I think I can help him get to the next level."

Wilson, who will be a senior this coming school year, came up just short of his state championship bid when he lost in the 140-pound finals to Elk Point-Jefferson's Tyler Stark by pinfall at the 3:31 mark Feb. 23 in Sioux Falls.

Durham said he intends to meet with his new team in the next couple of weeks to go over plans for summer conditioning and to get to know his roster.

"I know after seeing a few of the More wrestlers that the weight program will be big for them," Durham said. "We need to get them in the weight room to get our strength where it needs to be. I'm also hopeful that we will have some of them go to camps with me."