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By Dan Jones Mail Tribune August 08. 2015 6:47PM Desmond takes over Panthers' boys team Josh Desmond has been hired as the new South Medford boys soccer head coach. Desmond, a 10-year soccer assistant at South, takes over for Dave Kaufman, who retired. The 42-year-old Desmond is a PE teacher at Oak Grove Elementary. He played at Saratoga High in Saratoga, Calif., and at Tacoma Community College. Claudio Villa will continue to assist the South varsity program and work as the JV head coach. “I think together they’ve built a heck of a program,” South athletic director Dennis Murphy said of Kaufman, Desmond and Villa. “It’s a great fit to continue to keep things going in the right direction and take it to another level or two.” Kaufman coached for 10 years, taking over the Panther club in 2005 after succeeding Dave Potter. Kaufman’s teams won conference championships in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and finished as the state runner-up in 2009. The Panthers went 9-6-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the Southwest Conference last fall. The squad fell to West Salem, 2-1, in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs. “It’s big shoes to fill due to Dave’s background in soccer and in the valley,” Desmond said. “He’s pretty well-known. But I’m looking forward to it. What a great mentor he was. And he’ll be a part of the program and help with some goalkeeper training.” Desmond likes the squad he has coming back. “We won’t change much,” Desmond said. “We have quite a few returning seniors and we only lost two starters. We’ll give it a run.” Tryouts begin Aug. 17. Reach reporter Dan Jones at 541-776-4499, or email [email protected]. Find him online at twitter.com/danjonesmt http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150808/SPORTS/150809641 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->