William "Billy" Hallman spent the last seven years as the assistant coach of the Northwestern girls basketball team. Under head coach Chris Deutsch, Hallman, a 1994 graduate of Northwestern High School, was a part of a successful Lady Tiger staff that accomplished much over the past seven seasons, including a Colonial League title just a few months ago.

Now, Hallman will get his chance to be the main guy in charge. And he'll be staying put in New Tripoli.

Hallman, who was expected to be approved by the Northwestern School Board on Wednesday to become the new head coach of the Tigers boys basketball team, will take over a program that was 2-14 in the Colonial League (5-17 overall) last season.

"I'm very excited to be coaching there," Hallman said. "I know the community well. I know the kind of kids we have up here. They're going to work hard. I'm just looking forward to it."

Like his tenure with the girls team, Hallman is looking to build the boys squad in a similar fashion. To him, that is the most rewarding aspect of coaching, and now he's looking to do it once again.

"To me, when I coached the girls, there was nothing better than when we started to turn the program around," Hallman said. "Just to see how excited everybody got. The community got behind everybody, but most importantly to see the look on their faces when we succeeded. That's what I want to accomplish with the guys."

Hallman will replaces Dan Eddinger, who resigned in April after three years at the helm. Despite the boys team's tough go-around in 2014, the first-year head coach is optimistic about the Tigers future. The team returns eight seniors next year, and he'll relying on those upperclassmen.

"They know what to expect, probably more than I will, just from the league and that aspect," Hallman said. "I expect we'll have some good leadership next year, which I will lean on very heavily being that it's my first year coaching the guys."

In addition to returning a roster composed of many seniors, there will be a number of other key pieces that saw significant time this past winter.

There isn't much size on the Tigers' roster, but Hallman believes athleticism, hard work and competitiveness will make up for that.

"We're going to try and get up and down the court," Hallman said. "We don't have much size as of now, so we're not going to be pounding the ball inside. We're going to look to change defenses up, press here and there, [and] push the ball once we get it on offense."

Hallman also served as a coach in the Youth Athletic Association, and he coached a number of adult teams in recreational leagues while in the Navy for 10 years.

"I don't think we'll be outmatched," Hallman said. "I think the biggest thing really is going to be getting them to play together, getting everybody on the same page, and working toward one goal."