FREEPORT — Paul Sylba was in the right place at the right time.

Sylba, a former head coach at Class AA Riverview, was hired as Freeport High School’s varsity girls basketball coach at Wednesday night’s school board meeting.

He replaces Bill Burkart, who was 39-67 with three WPIAL playoff appearances in five years at the helm.

“This is a tremendous school with a great administration,” Sylba said. “I see it as a wonderful opportunity and I’m excited about it.”

Sylba served as Burkart’s varsity assistant this year as the Yellowjackets finished 10-12 with a loss in the first round of the WPIAL Tournament. Freeport has enjoyed just one winning season and has not won a playoff game since the 2003-04 season culminated with a 23-5 record and berth in the WPIAL Class AA championship game.

In nine years at Riverview, Sylba was 114-94 and coached five playoff teams. He won the Section 4-AA title and was named Section Coach of the Year in 2005.

After resigning from Riverview for business reasons, he served as the varsity assistant for two years under Chris Kallock at Kiski Area.

“When Chris resigned, I wasn’t interested in the head coaching position because it was a 35-minute drive from home and I didn’t think I could commit the time,” Sylba said.

Kiski hired Butler graduate and former Golden Tornado girls assistant coach Aaron Epps — and Sylba hit the golf course.

“It was my first summer in 25 years without basketball,” he said. “It felt strange, but I shaved a few strokes off my golf score.

“Through the coaching grapevine, I learned of Freeport’s opening for an assistant in mid-September, went through the process and got the position.”

A year later, he’s the man in charge.

Freeport is moving to Class AAA next year and will be in Section 1-AAA with Knoch, Mars, Hampton, Kittanning, Highlands and Valley.

“Our work will be cut out for us, but that’s a lot of short bus trips,” Sylba said. “We have a scrappy group of young ladies with plenty of work ethic.

“I like to think the pieces are there to succeed. Those pieces just need polished a little bit.”

Sylba said he prefers to play “an aggressive style of defense and take advantage of his team’s speed.”

He also sees no reason why Freeport can’t return to its glory years on the basketball court.

“This school has been very successful in volleyball and that sport contains a lot of the same footwork as basketball,” Sylba said. “The track and field team is strong ... There is solid athletic tradition here. These girls want to compete and they want to learn.”

Sylba coached Riverview’s junior high boys basketball team from 1985-2001, was the Women’s Collegiate Shooting Stars Summer League coach for a year and coached in the AK Valley Cager Classic twice.