A Platoon of Captains

Although I am not contractually bound to coach anywhere, I have a number of coaching friends that feed my present addiction. Virgil Hovden allowed me to help him with 8th grade girls at Dunkerton before Christmas. I had a great time with that group of players, we went 5- and - 5, they doubled their scoring average from their seventh grade year, and they came with a passion each practice and game day. Maybe the thing that made it so enjoyable though was working with Coach Hovden, as Virgil tells everyone we have been breaking into gyms since our days when we both grew up in Cresco.

Bruce Bailey has allowed me to live vicariously through his team in Gladbrook-Reinbeck this year as well. I have known Bruce since his daughter Emily went with us on a basketball trip to Russia. Bruce is one of the true gentleman of high school basketball. Every time I am in Reinbeck it seems like Bruce is feeding me or taking me fishing. He is surrounded by very competitive young women, that are also truly good people. His assistants may be the best staff in Iowa. Evan Schulte is his JV coach. He is a good young teacher who brings enthusiasm and passion to the team as well as the ability to take a ribbing from three of basketballs elder statesmen. Tom Boheman is a volunteer assistant to Bruce, although Tom was a fine head coach in his own right. He runs the conference all star game along with Mike Bengen. They have given hundreds of young men and women the chance to show case their talents in the NICL conference all star game for as long as I can remember. His third assistant is Mike Bengen, he has coached for years as well and volunteers endless hours to G-R in the weight room, to the young kids programs, to the football program, and to the girls' and boys' basketball programs. He also has a daughter playing for Bruce right now who is an incredible shooter.

Roger Oberhauser is a good friend who is coaching at Gilbertville Don Bosco and also feeds my passion for basketball. Roger had three back to back winning seasons at Jesup missing the state tournament by one game last year. He has  Don Bosco playing tremendous defense right now and they sit with a 10-7 record. They also play with the passion that their coach has for the game.

Hugh DeBerg is another coach that allows me to watch and talk about his boys' team here at Jesup. Hugh may be the greatest fundamental coach I have ever been around. His players are not only fundamentally sound, but  they are put in the position to succeed night in and night out. His athletes compete until the buzzer every night. Hugh has a passion for whatever he does be it in the classroom as a teacher, on the golf course, or as a parent. I am honored and proud to know him.

There are probably six more coaches that I could speak about here. Guys like Roger Wright at Ed-Co, Steve Crawford at Sumner-Fred, Steve Moon at Denver, Tom Klein at Jesup, Matt Switzer at Union, and Jason Yesek at Dunkerton. They are loyal friends. My conversations with them, and my chance to go watch their teams play make the long cold Iowa winters go faster.