DECATUR - Looking for someone who was familiar with the problems that have plagued its football program and could begin work on fixing those problems right away, the Decatur school board approved Tuesday the hiring of physical education teacher Rick Austin as the new head coach at Eisenhower.

With Don Flowers' mid-May resignation from a team that went 1-17 in his two seasons, Eisenhower athletic director Jim Corrona said it was important the Panthers find an experienced coach who was familiar with the program and could start right away.

"I drove by MacArthur yesterday and they had 35 or 40 kids out on the field using up one of their practice days," Corrona said. "I just thought to myself, `We're falling behind.' Well, now we can start catching up and we don't have to wait a week for a coach from outside the community to get in here and learn the staff and the kids. He can start tomorrow."

Austin most recently served as Eisenhower's athletic director and as an assistant coach for the Panthers during the 2004-05 school year. Before that, he was MacArthur's head football coach for two seasons in 1998-99, compiling a 1-17 record - the lone win a 31-0 blowout of Stephen Decatur that broke a 15-game losing streak for the Generals.

Austin was also head coach at Illiopolis for a season, going 0-9, and was an assistant coach for 13 seasons - five at MacArthur, five at St. Teresa and three at Stephen Decatur.

"It's just a good situation for us," Corrona said. "Rick knows Decatur, he's been in the school system, he knows our personnel, he knows our coaching staff, he's familiar with the Big 12 and he can hit the ground running.

"Had we brought in a new, young coach, he wouldn't have known the kids and staff or how to put together a summer camp - the things veteran coaches know how to do," Corrona said. "There were just so many plusses with Rick, we couldn't pass him up."

A 1971 Eisenhower graduate who went to college at Illinois State, Austin had taken the past two years off from coaching to watch his son play sports.

"He got a break and now he's rejuvenated," Corrona said. "He already has a weightlifting schedule set up and the football camp scheduled. Now he can get the seniors going as far as getting ready for the season and getting them to recruit some sophomores and juniors to build up the numbers."

Austin will be officially introduced as coach at a 3 p.m. press conference today in the Eisenhower gym.