To hear Rio Rancho High School volleyball coach Toby Manzanares tell it, Cleveland High School couldn’t have picked a better head coach for that sport than Ben Wallis.

Rio Rancho Public Schools athletic director Bruce Carver, who recently announced Brian Smith, Larry Chavez and Kirk Potter had been named as varsity coaches, said Tuesday that Wallis will coach the Storm’s varsity volleyball team in the 2009-10 school year.

Like Potter will do, Wallis will prepare for CHS’s first varsity team at the ground level in the fall by coaching a freshman team comprised of future CHS athletes. As with the hiring of Smith and Chavez, varsity boys basketball and boys cross country, the Storm didn’t have far to look.

Ben Wallis, a varsity assistant to Manzanares last season n when the Rams won their fifth state title in the last six years — will lead the Storm onto the court after having a chance to coach their freshman team in the fall at Rio Rancho Mid-High.

Wallis, 29, coached at Gadsden High School in Anthony and also at Franklin High in El Paso. He also was an assistant at New Mexico State University.

“I think Ben’s one of the brightest young volleyball minds that our state has to offer right now,” Manzanares said. “Ben’s extremely bright in this area. He’s very creative, he knows how to train a team, he’s organized — and has a point ‘A’ and knows how to get kids and a program to point ‘B.’’

“He’s definitely going to be an asset to Cleveland High and our district,” Manzanares added.

Ironically, Wallis, a La Cueva graduate (1996), had been a finalist to get that varsity coaching job there when Pam Zens left to get married. The Rams beat La Cueva for the 2007 blue trophy.

“He was the choice of the committee. He did a great job,” CHS principal Scott Affentranger said. “I’ll say this: He was a good choice, knows Toby and that program and obviously knows volleyball. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been. The kids and parents like him and I think he’ll be the final piece to a smooth transition in the volleyball program.

“We’re proud to get him.”

Wallis, a Pathfinders teacher at the Mid-High, said patience was a virtue in getting the nod.

“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s been a long process. It’s hard to be patient.

“I never came into it thinking the job would be mine. I wanted to compete for the job and prove to the people in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque that I was worthy and willing to put all my energy into it,” he said.