(Waukee) Former Elk Horn-Kimballton basketball star Brett Watson has made a handful of stops at the high school level and one in college. This spring he landed one of the most sought after coaching gigs in Iowa when he was named boys basketball coach at Waukee Northwest.
Watson told KSOM/KS95.7 Sports his goal since he was in 3rd grade was to be a college basketball coach. “My mom comes from a very long line of successful coaches in different sports. When I was younger my dad did a lot of coaching with youth. I’ve just really been around sports my whole life and felt like that was my calling to pursue and stay in the game as much as possible.”
Not all great players are great at coaching and not all great coaches were once great players. “It’s extremely hard. I can think back when I got into coaching, it’s different because you’re not wired the same as all your athletes. When you are an athlete you are focused on yourself and what you can do to improve in the offseason. As a coach, sometimes you have a roster of 15-30 or maybe 100 kids that have different personalities, different work ethics, different knowledge, and different backgrounds so it is unique. It did take a little while for me to transition and understand that what it takes to be a coach is a little different from what it takes to be a player.”
However, Watson points out a lot of the same ingredients go into each. “If you work hard, compete, and have discipline you can be successful as an athlete and as a coach. It’s a lot of unseen hours and you have to have that growth mindset. If you put a lot of time into it and keep growing from your mistakes a lot of good things can happen.”
Watson did reach his dream of coaching in college. He served for one year as an assistant coach at Division II Minot State. “That year I cannot explain how great it was to be around college level athletes where your #1 job is basketball. There’s a lot of advantages and disadvantages, but now I can just look back and realize I fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams to be a college basketball coach. I definitely feel like the high school level is where I want to be at.”
For the present time, the high school game fits Watson’s life better. He was asked what his dream job is. He responded, ‘Waukee Northwest’ without hesitation. “I was super excited. I wasn’t looking to leave Indianola at all. I can’t say enough about the administration and the players and the families down there.” When he saw the job posted he viewed it as a chance to get to what he refers to as an ‘end goal’ job. “I went through the process and the more I went through it the more people I met from the administration side and other coaches at Waukee Northwest. I just felt like this was a perfect fit for me and my family. Fortunately when he called the next day he gave me the opportunity to be the head coach there and I couldn’t say yes fast enough.”
Watson also had a very successful run as a football assistant during his early coaching days. He was offensive coordinator at ADM, an experience that he says forced him to become a better coach. “I was one of the first to install no huddle and a spread offense around Iowa especially at the 3A level. I had to learn a lot about how to implement that and how to communicate it with the kids. We kind of saw the fruits of my labor my last year as a football coach there we made it to the dome. We lost in the semifinals in a tough game, but I learned a lot about how to coach and relate to kids with a sport that I wasn’t as familiar with. I played 8-man football at Elk Horn-Kimballton so to coach at the 3A level against some really quality schools took a lot for me to adjust, but I felt like it made me a better coach.”
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
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)
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
Curt Schulte, Harlan graduate (Glenwood)
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
