By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Troy Dannen, a 1989 University of Northern Iowa alumnus and the current executive director of the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, has been named the next athletic director of the Cedar Falls school.
Dannen replaces Kevin Hartzell, who resigned at the end of January. Dannen’s been the head of the girls’ athletics governing body for six years.
“Northern Iowa has always had a place in my heart personally, and it was always a dream to expand that professionally,” Dannen told the Des Moines Register. “The ability to go back to UNI is a dream come true.”
As executive director, Dannen worked with a $3.1 million budget overseeing 70,000 athletes at nearly 400 schools in the state. He’ll have a $13 million budget to work with at Northern Iowa.
The IGHSAU’s eight-member board of directors will now begin search for his replacement.
Parkersburg Looks to Recover After Loss of Athletic Facilities
The National Football League has had among its member players in recent years the likes of Aaron Kampman, Casey Wiegmann, Jared DeVries, and Brad Meester.
They were all coached in high school by Ed Thomas, who has fashioned a 281-83 record with two state championships at Aplington-Parkersburg.
The field where they started their football careers in high school recently took on the look of complete devastation, as a tornado ravaged the eastern Iowa community just west of Waterloo. The tornado destroyed much of town, including the school and its facilities, while killing seven people at the same time.
"I went out and looked down both sides, and it looked like a war zone,” Thomas told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “No school, all of our athletic fields were gone. But I tell you our people here are pretty resilient."
"We're going to play every one of our home games in Aplington,” school superintendent Jon Thompson said. “We're going to play the games over there because I think it's important to our kids and communities to play within our district boundaries."
Thompson says early plans are to play basketball and volleyball in Aplington next year, but they plan to remodel the football field in time for the upcoming fall season.
Thomas says he’s even hopeful that some of his football alums may get involved.
"Casey (Wiegmann) called his dad and said he was going to get a hold of the NFL and see if there was anything they could do," Thomas said.
Football: New Coaches in Council Bluffs and Davenport
Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson and Davenport Central have named new football coaches as the school year ends.
At Thomas Jefferson on the western side of the state, an alumnus will return home, as Steve Cozad comes from Washington, Kan., to take over the coaching position. Cozad has posted a 23-16 record and qualified for the playoffs in Kansas Class 2-A in each season.
Davenport Central elevated assistant coach Mark Roering to the head coaching job on Wednesday of this week.
Roering hopes to improve on Central’s 1-8 record last year. During the season, the school suspended coach Max Duvall for having a non-certified coach on staff.
After discussions with the school’s administration failed to reach a decision to Duvall’s satisfaction, he resigned earlier this month.
Boys Basketball: Daniel Takes Dodgers’ Reins
Tom Daniel has been named the new boys’ basketball coach at Fort Dodge.
Despite coming from suburban Chicago, the new head coach of the Dodgers has connections to north central Iowa.
"He has relatives here in town. We knew he was a coach in Chicago,” Ford Dodge activities director Tom Kinseth told the Des Moines Register. “He applied for the position and we contacted him and came to find out he's the grandson of our former superintendent (Earl O. Berge)."
Daniel has been coaching most recently at Morton West High School in the Chicago suburbs and replaces Bruce Hartley, who resigned last month. Hartley is becoming the principal of a Fort Dodge elementary school that will preclude him from being able to continue coaching.
Girls Golf: State Champions Crowned
Iowa crowned its state girls golf this past week.
Grundy Center won its 10th state championship with the Class 1-A title in Marshalltown. That makes the Spartans the most successful girls golf program in Iowa, with one more state title than West Des Moines Valley’s nine state titles. The win was Grundy Center’s second straight championship and fourth in the last five years. Lamoni’s Amanda Butler took the individual medalist title with a 36-hole score of 154.
Hampton-Dumont won its first state championship, when it claimed the Class 2-A title, led by individual medalist Christy Wittmer with a 158.
Washington took the Class 3-A championship with an easy victory over second-place Knoxville. Ballard of Huxley’s Sara Kirschenman took the individual title with a 164.
Ankeny claimed the Class 4-A crown. Ottumwa’s Kristin Paulson was the individual medalist in Class 4-A with a 157 score.