VALPARAISO | After just two seasons at Valparaiso, Chris Benedict is returning to Columbia City to coach the boys basketball team he left in 2007.

Benedict was approved by the Whitley County school board on Tuesday night and informed the Valparaiso players in a team meeting on Wednesday morning.

Whitley County Superintendent Laura Huffman confirmed Wednesday morning that Benedict was approved at Tuesday night's school board meeting.

"Our previous coach (Dave Parker) took a principal job, so we had a vacancy and we had a vacancy for a math job as well," Huffman said. "Everything has worked out for us."

Messages left with Benedict on his cell phone and at home were not returned.

"When he got us all together, I had a feeling it was coming," Valparaiso junior Jerrick Suiter said. "I'd heard over the weekend from a couple people that he'd applied for the job. I was kind of surprised at first, but when I heard the reason was his family, that they were homesick I could understand."

Benedict coached at Columbia City for 11 years before coming to Valparaiso. The Vikings were 8-14 in 2007-08, but Benedict helped lead a turnaround this past season, when the program finished 20-4 and won its fifth sectional title in the last six campaigns.

"Overall, he's a great coach," Suiter said. "He had these sayings that my teammates and I loved. They were hilarious. Every time he'd say them, we'd start to crack up. He was always joking with us. He made it real fun at practice."

The news of Benedict's departure comes just one day after the Valparaiso school board announced that Jeanette Gray was hired as the new girls basketball coach.