(Audubon) Jim Willet spent 10 years in Anita and 20 years in Audubon coaching football. He’s our guest this week on “Why I Coach.”
The Cincinnati, OH native played his college football at what is now known as Truman State in Missouri. He worked in the business world for a couple of years before getting into coaching. “I was in Sioux City working and I had the opportunity to help John Dornan at Morningside. He got in touch with me and asked me if I wanted to coach. He was just starting there at Morningside in 1975. I helped him that year and then he helped my get a graduate assistantship at South Dakota State with John Gregory and I worked with John Gregory for a year.”
While Willet got his start in coaching at the college level, he never put much serious thought into working at that level long term. “No. I thought about it and I’d rather be with the young kids that you can coach with them and talk with them. College kids are a little more different. I worked with college kids five years, but I liked to be in the developmental stage…it was a lot of fun.”
In the spring of 1977 he got hired to be the head football coach for Anita. He remembers quickly finding out that there is a lot more on your shoulders as a head coach compared to being an assistant. “Organization is a hard one. When you become the head coach you have a lot of things that you have to do. When you are an assistant coach you get told what you have to do.”
He’s proud of the fact he met a lot of great people along the way, both coaches and players. “I still have a good relationship with most of the players. I keep in contact with a lot of them. The friendships and the relationships, you can’t beat it.”
After retiring at Audubon, Willet helped Dick Strittmatter who was launching the football program at Briar Cliff. “He heard I was retiring and he called me up and asked me if I would like to help him out and work with the offense. I told him I was getting ready to retire and really wanted something to do. ‘You came along Dick and you’re a godsend’ is what I told him. I worked with him for two years and I didn’t have to cold turkey it, I just kind of eased myself out and it worked out really good.”
He describes himself as a disciplinarian. “I made kids do what they were supposed to do. They had responsibilities. I kept kids off the field when I didn’t feel they were capable of being there or shouldn’t be there because they didn’t do something right in the classroom or didn’t do something right in society and they didn’t play Friday night. A lot of them got mad at me about it, but then they came back later and thanked me for it. You had to follow the rules.”
Conditioning was another big things for Willet who jokes they thought he was coaching track and not football when he first got to Audubon. Things have changed a little bit over the years.
Willet says communication is one of the biggest keys to success as a coach. “Being able to explain what they want done in a way that the kids understand it and are willing to do what you want them to do. You have to prove to the kids that what you want them to do is the right thing to do. A good communicator can do that. I’ve seen a lot of coaches that do a lot of hollering, but don’t do a lot of coaching.”
His football coaching record was 156-121. He took Anita to the playoffs once and made three postseason appearances with Audubon. In addition to football, Willet spent eight years as head wrestling coach in Anita.
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
