Duncan High School third-year head coach Nolan Price is in the process of adding an unforgettable season to his career.

“I would say one of my biggest is not quite down as we are in it right now,” Price said. “This group of kids who have worked so hard all year, this might be the biggest highlight of my career watching them come together, training for this, fight day in and day out and win in so many different ways, in the pool and out of it.”

Price says he enjoys the development of student-athletes above everything else.

“How the students learn to be better, both in the pool as well as the class room,” Price said. “Over a year, you can see a kid who has never been good at a sport get so much better as a student-athlete and become a better human-being.”

Price’s coaching career began when his high school coach, Ed Gervin, allowed Price to coach the middle school program — while he was still in high school. There, Price identified his passion for coaching.

“I found joy in the relationships I could build with [student-athletes] and help those kids get better,” Price said, “and how kids can grow so much by investing in them.”

Price considers Garvin and Sam Freas, his college coach, his greatest influences in coaching.

“Both coaches showed me what it is like to teach students how to become adults, to pour into them and to make sure they are stronger human beings than what they were when they came into the program,” Price said. “I look up to a couple of coaches, but the biggest are the ones I have to coach against, that being [Fort Gibson’s] Leslie White, [Altus’] Linda Wiginton and [Carl Albert’s] Joshua Norman. All three coaches in some form or fashion embody what I am trying to build here in Duncan: longevity, passion for the sport, care for the kids that goes well beyond the pool  and desire to keep pushing kids to never be satisfied.”