Cedar Falls basketball coach retiring just one of many recent coaching moves; Valley wins battle of top-ranked girls soccer teams.
By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Boys Basketball: Slykhuis Ending Run at Cedar Falls
It just won’t be the same without Jerry Slykhuis on the Cedar Falls’ bench next season. He’s been coaching high school basketball and golf for over 40 years, but has announced he will be retiring at the end of the current school year.
In all, Slykhuis has been at Cedar Falls for 36 years. He started his coaching career in Fort Madison five years prior to coming to the Cedar Valley.
His overall record in basketball was 531-305, which has him among the top 20 basketball coaches in Iowa. Six of his teams have been at the state tournament, including four Tiger teams, the most recent in 2005.
Slykhuis (pronounced SLYK-howss) still plans to work his Snow Valley basketball camps in Waverly, Lincoln, Neb., and in Missouri. He also may consider coming back into coaching at some point, leaving that option open.
Boys Basketball: Hartley Switching Roles at Fort Dodge
Another Iowa coach is leaving the sidelines, but this one is leaving for a desk job. Fort Dodge coach Bruce Hartley says he’s leaving coaching to become the principal of an elementary school in Fort Dodge next year.
Hartley’s Dodgers were 38-51 in four seasons, including a 5-16 mark this year. He did coach the 2005-06 Dodgers to a 16-7 record and a state tournament appearance – the school’s first since winning the state title in 1988.
"We've got to wait six days to have the job posted in our district,” Fort Dodge athletic director Tom Kinseth told the Ford Dodge Messenger. “After that we'll have interviews."
Boys Swimming: New Coach Named at Des Moines Lincoln
One high school coaching vacancy in Iowa has been filled, as Brayton Weber is becoming the new boys swimming coach at Des Moines Lincoln. Weber is already the girls’ coach at the school and is adding the boys’ team to his duties.
In Iowa, girls’ swimming runs in the fall and boys’ swimming is contested in the winter.
The past five seasons, Lincoln and Des Moines East have combined for one boys’ squad, but the schools have opted to split their programs and compete separately during the upcoming season.
As a girls’ coach, Weber took the Railsplitters to a conference championship in 2006.
Football: Kammrad Becomes Coach at C.B. Abraham Lincoln
The new football coach at Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln High School knows the program pretty well, just from the other side of the field.
Justin Kammrad was a former star and assistant coach for Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, but as he told parents and supporters at an introductory news conference, “I am a Lynx now.”
Kammrad was chosen from 20 candidates who applied for the job. Athletic director Jeff Novotny told the Council Bluffs Nonpareil newspaper he was seeking someone who had, "preparation, knowledge, motivation, who had high standards and expectations on the field, in the classroom and at home and who would connect with the youth programs. Justin was the right fit."
The new Lynx coach was a Division II All-American in college while at Nebraska-Omaha. He’s been a player and coach of the professional indoor football team Iowa Blackhawks, whose home arena is the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs.
Girls Soccer: No. 1 Valley Tops No. 2 Kennedy
The top two teams in Class 2-A girls soccer met on the pitch last Friday night, and top-ranked West Des Moines Valley knocked off second-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy 3-1.
The highlight of the night was Tiger forward Elyse Galles, whose no-look pass from the left wing found Nicole Sipfe in front of the Cougars’ net. Sipfe’s goal started the Tigers’ offense in the match.
It was only the fourth goal allowed by Kennedy this season.
The win came as part of the Valley Classic and moved the Tigers to 9-0 for the season. Valley is ranked 19th in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The Tigers also have a 23-match winning streak overall and a 63-match run against Iowa opponents.
In the other match of the Valley Classic on Friday, 10th-ranked (Class 2-A) Waukee stopped seventh-ranked (Class 1-A) Dallas Center-Grimes 2-1.
