Mark Caldwell returns to Grand Lake High School for a second stint at the boys basketball head coach. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)

Mark Caldwell left Grand Lake High School after the 2022-2023, but always felt the call to go back.

After a year at Lake Arthur, and another at Iowa High School, Caldwell will make his return to Cameron Parish to lead the Hornets boys basketball team for a second time.

“It always felt like home,” Caldwell said. “I had been missing it a little bit working with the kids that I had and the community.

“I have such a good relationship with (football coach Jeff Wainwright) and Tyler Alton the baseball coach. My old assistant, Andrew Dietz, is there. The principal (Jessica Aguillard) is the mom of a former player of mine and is a great parent. I started receiving calls and texts, and they were just really wanting me to be there.”

Caldwell’s family has a long history at Grand Lake High School. His father Don, who died in 2021, was the girls

basketball coach while Caldwell was in elementary school and his mother, Susan, was a teacher there. The elder Caldwell took the Hornets to the Class C semifinals in 1989.

“Dad was the girls coach and took over a team that hadn’t won a game in two or three years, had several teams that went to the quarters and semifinals, won 38 games one year,” Caldwell said. “There are still teachers at the school that my dad coached, so that is pretty neat. It just always felt right.”

Caldwell was the Hornets’ head coach from 2014 to 2023 and went 161-93 in nine seasons. He led the Hornets to a pair of district championships and the program’s first state tournament trip in 2019-2020. That season, the Hornets went 31-2 and lost 61-55 to Lincoln Prep in the Class 1A semifinals.

Caldwell, who is 191-118 in 11 seasons, said he hopes to pick up where he left off.

“That is the ultimate goal,” he said. “Of course, I want to do that again with the community and stuff.

“I want to have a team that the community is proud of, and at the end of the day, that is what you are looking for. We want to get back to playing hard fundamental basketball and being disciplined and try to get it back to what it was. We have a couple of seniors and a good core of younger guys. They have already been fun to coach this summer. We have got 10-12 games in. They work out hard every day.”

Last season, Caldwell guided Iowa to a 13-12 runner-up finish in its first season in District 3-4A. Prior to that he spent one season at Lake Arthur and took the Tigers to the second round of the playoffs.

“I have nothing bad to say about Iowa. I love the kids,” Caldwell said. “The coaching staff over there is great, and my wife (girls head basketball coach Courtneé Hollins) is over there. Coach (Chuck) Gorman and Coach (Tommy) Johns are great people, and I loved Daniel (Hennigan), the baseball coach. It is a real good place to work.”