(Atlantic) Tom McLaren has been an assistant coach for Atlantic basketball and baseball along with a number of youth coaching roles. He’s our guest this week on “Why I Coach.”
McLaren started out as a freshman boys basketball coach in Atlantic. He spent most of the 1990’s with the program and worked his way up to the top assistant under head man Steve Blazek. “It was awesome. I learned a lot from Blazek. He probably has every single practice schedule he’s ever put together. He’s just that organized. I was not. So that helped me. He taught me how to plan a practice schedule, what to do, who to work with, all the little things. I learned quickly from him that while we wanted to win, we wanted to get better and that was considered a win. If the kids got better as you went then you were winning.”
McLaren’s biggest mantra was to put in effort. “If you play hard first you’ll be successful more often than not. That was always a big thing for me as a player because I wasn’t very good. If you played as hard as you could and did everything that I asked of you, you were going to be successful. We may not win all the games, but that was the big thing. Playing hard has always been a huge thing no matter what I coached.”
More recently, McLaren teamed up with head coach Trace Petersen in the dugout for Atlantic baseball. “I knew Trace and I knew his style and I liked that style. I just tried to help out with that and do the best I could and be there for the kids. I’ve always thought no matter who you are or what you are doing, if you want to come out and put out the effort, we’ll find a place for you.”
McLaren was known for some of his catch phrases. “‘Good gravy’. That was never a good thing. There was nothing good about that. That means somebody had done something dumb. Another one might have been ‘get the plow out of the ground and get down the floor.’ That one I probably stole from my dad.” McLaren says, “I always tried to be enthusiastic for all of my players. There was something good in everyone I coached. I can’t think of anybody I truly didn’t like coaching.”
The Corning alum had some great mentors including John Harris among others.
Previous Coaches
(Click to listen)
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
Jeremy Blake and Michelle Blake, Nodaway Valley/Atlantic
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)
Steve Pelzer, Cumberland-Massena
Andy Hensley, Cumberland-Massena grad (Tri-Center)
Jason Mehrhoff, Anita Native (Carlisle)
Eric Hjelle, Elk Horn-Kimballton grad (Underwood)
Brett Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum (Waukee Northwest)
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
Marc Bierbaum, Griswold grad and Iowa Western track/cross country assistant
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Jim Flanery, Guthrie Center alum (Creighton women’s basketball)
Curt Schulte, Harlan graduate (Glenwood)
Liz Stein, Harlan graduate (Audubon and Underwood)
Angie Spangenberg, Harlan and Red Oak
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Lanny Kliefoth, Nodaway Valley
Dan Schleisman, Shelby-Tennant and Treynor
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
Josh Abel, (Walnut grad), Tri-Center
Kevin Suhr, (Walnut Grad) Blue Valley High School, KS
