Mark Anderson spent a handful of years coaching against Boonville prior to coming to Jefferson City. He'll be on the other side of that matchup this winter.
Anderson resigned as the head boys basketball coach a Jefferson City to take the same position for the Pirates, he announced Thursday.
"I always thought it would be a good spot to coach," Anderson said. "They've got some pretty good talent coming back and coming up. It's just a good move for me and the timing was kind of right."
Anderson introduced himself to the Boonville players Thursday.
"It was great to meet them and we're exited for a fresh start," he said.
The Jays went 21-28 the past two seasons with Anderson, falling in the first round of the district tournament both years.
"We had two losing seasons and it was kind of getting to me," Anderson said. "I've know (athletic director Chris) Shikles at Boonville for a while and we got to talking and one thing led to another."
Anderson left Moberly to replace Blair Thompson, who coached the Jays for six years, in 2017.
"We would like to thank Mark for the time he spent leading the boys basketball program at JCHS and wish him nothing but the best in his next position," Jefferson City activities director Chad Rizner said.
Anderson was a coach at the youth, middle school and freshman levels in Jefferson City before coaching three years at Knob Noster. He then led the Moberly Spartans for seven seasons.
"The wins and loss record probably wasn't where I had hoped for, but I enjoyed being here," Anderson said. "The administration was outstanding, I enjoyed the kids and I'll leave with a lot of good memories here. It's still a place that is still really dear to me and I'll be rooting for them from afar.
"There s a lot of things about the Jeff City job that absolutely I'm going to miss. The excitement about the holiday tournament, the matchups with Helias and all those things. There's certainly trade-offs."
Boonville is a regular opponent of Moberly, which means Anderson gets the opportunity to coach against his former school.
"That will be a hard thing," Anderson said. "Their coach is one of my dear friends. That will be a really tough night emotionally. It will be kind of fun to go back there and be in the visitor locker room."
The opportunity to coach in a conference again is appealing to Anderson. Boonville finished fourth in the Tri-County Conference this past season.
"The conference is loaded," Anderson said. " I'm excited about being in a conference, too. That was one thing I missed a lot. I know they are starting one here in a couple years, but being in a conference race and having all-conference teams and things like that, I missed that probably more than I thought I would."
The Jays will be joining a conference with Rock Bridge, Hickman, Battle, Helias, Sedalia Smith-Cotton and Capital City starting in the 2020-21 season.
Anderson said the split with Capital City wasn't one of the main reasons for leaving Jefferson City.
"Maybe a little bit," he said. "It's going to be a little bit different job when that happens, but I knew that coming in. That wasn't anything that got thrown on me. That might have played a minor part in it, but not one of the bigger deals."