From retirement to resurgence: Ken Elfrink leads Chaffee girls basketball to Class 2 rankings in first month

Kennan Elfrink retired from coaching in 2022 after leading the Blue Eye girls basketball team to three consecutive third-place finishes in Class 2.

He saw an opportunity to return to coaching at a place close to his family in Chaffee, with Aaron Horrell recruiting him over this past spring and, after the first month of the 2024-25 season, it looks like he hasn't lost a step.

"I missed the kids. Being around the kids is a big part of it," Elfrink said. "The relationships you build with the kids, the game itself, being the competitive side of things. I've always been pretty competitive but just the everyday, the teaching the game and being around the kids just kind of makes you feel young."

Chaffee won the Lady Devil Invitational with an exciting game over Class 1 powerhouse Delta, and the Mistletoe Classic in Charleston after three dominating wins to enter the holiday break ranked No. 10 in the Class 2 MBCA girls basketball rankings. With a 7-1 record, an offense that scores 63.5 points per game and a defense that allows 31.9 points, Chaffee joins St. Vincent as the top two Class 2 teams in Southeast Missouri.

Chaffee won the Mistletoe Classic by defeating East Prairie, Charleston and Bloomfield by a combined score of 217-52. The Red Devils have been a solid team for two years, but Elfrink seems to have unlocked their potential so quickly during his tenure at Chaffee.

"I knew that the effort, how hard they played and athletically, they've got a lot of skill, a lot of talent," Elfrink said.

"Coming in and seeing the kids in practice, I was pretty optimistic how it could be good," Elfrink said. "I just thought it would take us a while to get things ironed out and it still will. We still got a lot of kinks and a lot of things we got to get better at. So it's a process."

The Red Devils' only loss came at Notre Dame 50-42. That game alone was a great sign of progress as the previous matchup was a 62-15 loss in 2023.

"Our goal is to be playing our best come mid-January," Elfrink said.

Chaffee will start 2025 with a road trip to Oak Ridge on Jan. 6.