(Elk Horn) This week’s “Why I Coach” guest led the EH-K Danes to the boys state basketball tournament in his final season on the sideline. His name is Warren Watson.
Watson says his story started with a group of youth players at the Manning Auditorium. “We had just lost a game to someone and the tears were flowing. I was at a loss for words of comfort, but said something like ‘If we keep working hard things will get better.’ So work we did. Every tournament imaginable for the next five years. We won, we lost, we got better.”
Watson took teams all over the country to play and eventually took over the high school coaching gig at Elk Horn-Kimballton. The school had lost their coach in August. “I went looking to recruit a coach, but most jobs were already filled. Then my good old buddy Carl Cochran said, ‘Why don’t you take it?’ Right Carl…I’ve never been an X’s and O’s guy. I’m basically just there to help the refs call traveling. Well, I did interview and got the nod. When asked after I finished my seven year stretch my thoughts, my reply has always been the same, ‘Coaching years are like dog years. Each coaching year is like seven years of your life. So actually I coached 49 years. Thanks Carl.'”
Things didn’t exactly get off to the greatest start. “The very first play as a high school coach we were playing Guthrie Center and they had this Parker kid that was a stud to say the least. They got the tip, threw it to Parker on the baseline, and he immediately one hand slammed it. Welcome to high school basketball, coach Watson. The night only got longer from there. We lost by 44. Then we got a break and played Treynor. We only lost by 38 to them.”
They went just 4-15 the first season. Watson admits he invested in about every single coaching video and book out there. With a lot of hard work, things starting looking up and the Danes became well known for keeping the heat on teams. “Controlled chaos. We pressed all the time. Now I did catch some flack from this pressure defense. I tried to use it on and off, but really it didn’t work well at all. I had players who kept forgetting if we were pressing or not. So my easy fix was we’ll just press all the time. Our half court defense was four players playing man-to-man and Brett was rover. We left the opponents least offensive threat free and then Brett would double all trouble. It worked out ok.”
Watson recalls never having to call a timeout in the 1998-99 season and only one in 1999-2000. It was right before they made the state tournament. “I called a timeout with :15 left. We were comfortably ahead. I’m sure many thought I was rubbing it in or something. What I was doing was taking those boys back to that Manning Auditorium basement and we just embraced the joy. After that final buzzer whether Ron Novotny wanted it or not, he got a big kiss on that shiny bald head of his from me. I felt he had been through the wars with us.”
He had the pleasure of coaching his son Brett who scored 2,355 career points. That ranks 10th all-time in Iowa.
Previous Coaches
John Kesselring, Adair-Casey alum
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Dick Strittmatter, Atlantic native
Chad Klein, Audubon Native (Kuemper Catholic and Boone)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Monte Riebhoff)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Steve Ahrendsen)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Scott Weber)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Curt Mace)
Warren Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Chris Stimson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Scott Yates, Elk Horn-Kimballton
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
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
