(Harlan) Former Harlan and Red Oak volleyball coach Angie Spangenberg has guided 14 teams to state. The three time Iowa Coach of the Year and former National Coach of the Year is this week’s guest on “Why I Coach.”
Spangengerg says when she was in high school at Clarinda the varsity basketball team had to meet at the school on Saturdays and work with youth players. “I loved it. I hope those little girls had fun. I think that’s what got me interested in coaching. I really enjoyed it and enjoyed working with kids.”
Spangenberg’s coaching specialty was volleyball, but basketball and swimming were her favorites as a kid. In fact, Clarinda didn’t offer volleyball until after she graduated. “We had a little team when I was in college. It wasn’t a college volleyball team, but we played other teams. Just rec, co-ed, sand, mud, whatever. I just really enjoyed playing, but I knew nothing about it at all. There was an opening at Red Oak so I went in and visited with the principal which was Doug Kennedy at the time.” She says she told him she knew nothing about this, but would love to try.
She studied the game initially at Graceland in Lamoni and says she was fortunate to have a lot of players in her first year that knew what they were doing. She recalls her first trip to state. The story starts with taking a group of middle school girls to Cedar Rapids to watch the state tourney. “They’d never been there and I had never been there. I asked them when it was all over, ‘I said would you like to come back next year and do this again’ I remember Jessica (Phillips) Reinhart looking at me and saying ‘Coach Spangenberg. We aren’t gong to come back until we play here.’ I said ‘Ok then we have a lot we have to get done.’ They worked tremendously hard in all sports, but put a lot of time into volleyball with me and the assistant coaches. They went back. They were the first group that made it to the state tournament. They went their senior year.”
Spangenberg held her athletes to a high standard and the put in a lot of time. “We probably did some of the most boring fundamental drills over and over, but we did them until we could do them right. I feel like a lot of our practices at Red Oak and Harlan were reaching goals. Pushing ourselves and re-doing things until they did them at a level that I knew that they could reach.” She says taking time to learn the basics was an important part of her team’s successes.
After a great 18-year run at Red Oak, Spangenberg was approached about an opening at Harlan. A call from Mitch Osborn changed everything. “They had a Dean of Students opening and a Volleyball opening. I was ready for a change. It just worked out here. I’m forever grateful for my time at Red Oak. I have friends there and family there. That part never changes. I’m also equally grateful for the opportunity to be here and to coach here.”
Harlan made the state tourney every year from 2011 to 2015, winning state titles in 2013 and 2014. She received the Golden Plaque of Distinction award from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union in 2016. “I feel very blessed. Teaching and coaching has led me so many different places and allowed me to meet so many different people.”
Previous Coaches
John Kesselring, Adair-Casey alum
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Chad Klein, Audubon Native (Kuemper Catholic and Boone)
Jan Jensen, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum
Seth Poldberg, EH-K grad and Guthrie Center coach
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Angie Spangenberg, Harlan and Red Oak
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Lanny Kliefoth, Nodaway Valley
