It did not take long for Wheaton Academy to find a successor to boys basketball coach Andy Euler, who on April 28 accepted a position as coach and teacher at Covenant College in Georgia.

The Warriors also didn’t have to look very far.

Wednesday the school and Warriors athletic director Tom Jamerson announced that Paul Ferguson, a former assistant to Euler at Wheaton Academy, would be hired as boys basketball coach and as a teacher.

Ferguson, a history teacher who just earned a second master’s degree at Wheaton College, comes back to the West Chicago institution after serving as an assistant to Wheaton College men’s coach Bill Harris.

“Ultimately it was the opportunity to run my own program at Wheaton Academy that drew me back,” said the 34-year-old Ferguson, who taught at Wheaton Academy from 1995-2000 before heading to the college full-time. He started on Harris’ staff part-time in 1999.

“I wasn’t going to go to any high school,” he said. “Wheaton Academy is a pretty unique place, and I enjoyed my time there. The opportunity to go back there and to be a basketball coach was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.”

A Connecticut native who graduated with a history degree from Notre Dame in 1994, Ferguson was Fighting Irish coach John McLeod’s student assistant for two years. His first year out of college, Ferguson assisted Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson.

Ferguson, who also has a master’s degree in arts of teaching from Aurora University, joined Wheaton Academy in 1995, coaching the sophomore boys basketball team as well as boys tennis.

“Having been at the college level, I think I’ve become a better coach over the past seven years, having had this experience, especially in terms of just developing players,” said Ferguson, who lives in Wheaton with his wife, Michelle, and young sons, Ty and Ben.

“I think I’ll have a better understanding of scouting and recruiting, all the areas that make you a better coach. The X’s and O’s, too.”

Asked about his time with Euler, Ferguson said: “I definitely loved working for Coach Euler and learned a lot under him. He’s been a major influence.”