Salina South Names Marty Wendel as Head Boys Basketball Coach

Salina South High School has named Marty Wendel as the new Head Boys Basketball Coach of the Cougars, pending board approval.

Wendel brings a proven track record of program transformation and player development to South High. After playing collegiately at Colby Community College and Fort Hays State University under longtime coach Mark Johnson, he launched his coaching career at Chapman Middle School in 2015, where he spent five years leading both the girls and boys basketball programs while teaching in the classroom.

Since 2020, Wendel has served as head coach at Ell-Saline Middle/High School, orchestrating a dramatic turnaround for the Cardinals program. He inherited a winless team and built it into a consistent winner, compiling four straight winning seasons. His accomplishments include a third-place state finish in 2025, setting the state record for most points in a state tournament game (109 points), three consecutive substate championship appearances, and developing multiple all-league and all-state players. Wendel has been named a Coach of the Year finalist at the 2A level multiple times.

At Ell-Saline, Wendel also taught Strength/Conditioning, PE/Health, and Driver's Education.

Wendel and his wife, Alyssa, have lived in Salina since 2020. Alyssa has worked at Kansas State University Salina since 2016. The couple has two children, Kain (7) and Collins (4).

"My kids are incredibly excited that my school is now so close! We are excited to deepen our roots in Salina," Wendel said.

"This has been an incredibly humbling experience for me and I can't thank Mr. Stuart and the hiring committee enough for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to bringing a new energy to this program and continuing to build on the tremendous success that Coach Hooper has had these past 10 plus years. Go Cougars!"

Salina South Athletic Director Ryan Stuart praised the hire: "I am very pleased to announce the hiring of Marty Wendel as Salina South High School's new boys basketball head coach. I have admired the success Coach Wendel has enjoyed so far in his head coaching career, and look forward to him building upon that success at Salina South. I am very confident he possesses all of the tools necessary to lead our boys basketball program."