(Oakland) Paul Bullock enjoyed an extremely successful coaching career in girls basketball which included a stint at Riverside in his final years. He won over 500 games and went to seven state tournaments in basketball. He also guided two softball teams to state during his time at Waukee.
Bullock told KSOM/KS95.7 Sports his older brother Larry, who was a successful coach at Manilla and Atlantic just to name a couple of his stops, is the one who inspired him to coach. “I’d get knocked down sometimes and I’d have tears in the back of my eyes at eight or nine years old and he’d say ‘Get up, let’s go. Pick yourself up.’ So the ability to keep at it was instilled by him.”
Paul Bullock’s career started at Tri-County, Thornburg and he was there for three years before spending the next 21 at Waukee. He took the Warriors to five state tourneys before cracking into the big time. He landed a Class 4A gig at Abraham Lincoln at the end of his career. After a one year retirement he came back and coached at Riverside. His year away from the sideline wasn’t easy on him. In fact, during that one year hiatus, he got a part time job at Sears and made sure to get himself on the schedule on nights there were games just to keep him occupied.
One of Bullock’s biggest keys to success was showing the kids that you cared. “There are good kids everywhere if you just get them so that they will be devoted and know that you care about it enough. Then they start caring about it and putting in the time.” He says they always went to a lot of camps in the summer time and spent most Sunday evenings at open gym. “I got them to follow my lead…It seemed like we were always going to camps and spent a lot of time, a lot of Sunday evenings at open gym. I put in the time and they put in the time and if you work hard enough and have some ability you can be successful. I was lucky enough to have a lot of kids with a lot of ability.”
In addition to his brother, one of the key early influences on Bullock was one of his high school coaches at Creston, Rollin Dyer. Bullock comments on what he gained from Dyer. “I think quiet confidence. He coached football and track. He was the type of individual I don’t ever think got too upset. He was an overall great guy. I followed him wherever he went, kept notice of what happened when he went to Atlantic. I’d see him at the girls state tournament and always go up and talk to him. He was a good guy. Sometimes you have coaches that aren’t good guys. He was a good guy.”
In Bullock’s second year at Tri-County he and his brother Larry, who as at Manilla at the time, each finished off undefeated regular seasons in the same year. Larry surprised Paul by being in person for Tri-County’s final game of the regular season. “I think it was my 2nd year at Tri-Country, Thornburg. We were going through the year trying to go undefeated. We had our last game at home. He had just finished up his season at Manilla undefeated. I didn’t know it, but I looked up in the crowd and there he was. He’d driven all the way from Manilla to Tri-County which was almost clear across the state to watch our final game.” They often attended the same team camps on the summer. Paul gives Larry the nod when asked which coach had the most success. Larry, after all, has the coveted state championship in both basketball and track.
At on point in his career Bullock was coaching Fall Softball, Cross Country, Girls Basketball, Track, and Summer Softball all in the same year. Eventually he gave up softball so he could participate in more summer camps. “I enjoyed it so much when I got done after 38 years I realized how old I was and I realized ‘Where did my life go?’ Time flies when you are having fun and I had fun most of my life. That was a great, great time of coaching.”
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
