Apparently, you can go home again. Longtime Springfield Catholic girls’ soccer head coach Dr. Ben Timson is living proof of that. Two years after stepping down as head coach at Springfield Catholic – due in part to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic – Timson returned to the sidelines this season and led the Fightin’… Read more »
News
Category: Coaches
Diana Tingler
For Diana Tingler, she considers herself one of the lucky ones in life. After all, you’ve probably heard the stories of trailblazers fighting the good fight to promote high school girls basketball back in the 1960s and 1970s. Fortunately, her high school back home was already offering the sport when she arrived. And little did… Read more »
Mel Tjeerdsma
Completing his 16th season at Northwest Missouri State and his 26th as a collegiate head coach, Tjeerdsma has guided the Bearcats to eleven MIAA Championships overall. In the past 11 years, the Bearcats have won three National Championships and the have made seven appearances in the championship game. Tjeerdsma has more postseason victories than any… Read more »
Vince Tobin
Following a successful football career at MU, Vince Tobin joined the Tiger coaching staff and by 1967, was the full time defensive end coach. Tobin joined the Chicago Bears in 1986. In Chicago, Tobin’s defensive unit ranked first in 1986, allowing only 258 total yards per game and just 94.2 rushing yards per game. Tobin… Read more »
Tony Tocco
Tony Tocco arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in the fall of 1969 to become an accounting professor at then Rockhurst College. He was also offered a part-time job as an assistant men’s soccer coach to help supplement his income. Tocco stepped into the head coaching position the following season. Fifty years later, the former Saint… Read more »
Warren Turner
Warren Turner is the winningest baseball coach in the history of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. From 1977-2007, his Lions went to five NAIA or NCAA national tournaments, never finishing lower than seventh. His 852 wins rank him 15th all-time in NCAA history. Turner was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1978. … Read more »
Mike Tyree
He enjoyed a coaching career that many only dream of, with banners on display in the high school gym, a trophy case out in the school lobby and a lifetime of memories. And yet Mike Tyree will tell you that it wasn’t about him in his tenure as the volleyball coach at St. Francis Borgia… Read more »
Bob Vanatta
Vanatta was the head basketball coach for Central Methodist, Southwest Missouri State, Army, Bradley, Memphis State, Missouri, and Delta State University. At Southwest Missouri State, he won the 1952 and 1953 NAIA Championships. He compiled a 109-34 record at Memphis State, including making it to the 1957 NIT Championship game. After coaching, he later served… Read more »
Patty Vavra
In the immediate years following passage of federal Title IX legislation – the 1972 law which created athletic opportunities for girls and women in public schools and universities – one thing was abundantly clear: Much work remained for competitors to be taken seriously. Fortunately, Patty Vavra was among those who led the way. When she… Read more »
Dick Vermeil
One of the most distinguished coaching careers in National Football League history officially concluded when Dick Vermeil announced his retirement from professional football in 2006. Vermeil spent 15 seasons as an NFL head coach and was a member of the league’s coaching fraternity for 19 seasons. In addition, Vermeil has had a prestigious career as… Read more »
Rick Vernon
Back in the late 1960s in the central Missouri town of Eldon, while football fans cheered as he became an All-State running back, Rick Vernon was doing double duty. That is, he kept taking mental notes from his high school coaches. “They were great influences,” Vernon said of football coach Bob Higbee and basketball coach… Read more »
Greg Vitello
For former De Smet soccer and baseball coach Greg Vitello, playing and coaching don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. That isn’t to say that good players can’t or won’t make good coaches, but success on the field doesn’t always equate to success in the dugout or on the bench. And Vitello, who enjoyed a hall of fame… Read more »
Norman Wagner
Norman Wagner was born in St. Louis and graduated from Normandy High School. As a student-athlete, he lettered at the University of Missouri in basketball and baseball from 1931 to 1933. He led the basketball team in scoring in 1933 when he won all-Big Six Conference honors. His biggest accomplishments, though, were achieved on the… Read more »
Al Waller
Coach Al Waller was head coach of the men’s basketball team at College of the Ozarks for 25 years before his retirement in 2002. During his tenure at the school, he amassed 458 wins, 12 conference championships, twelve 20 plus win seasons and six trips to the NAIA Division II National tournament with three Elite… Read more »
Lawrence Walls
From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, when the Public High League dominated St. Louis area football, Lawrence Walls, who retired in 1998, presided over a dynasty at Sumner High School. His coaching career at Sumner began in 1971 and continued until his retirement in 1998. When Coach Walls totaled his record at the end of… Read more »
Herb Webster
For the last 45 years, Coach Webster has been doing what he loves, coaching basketball to young people. His coaching career started at Tri-County High School. He then moved to Penney High School, where he started the first girls’ basketball team. During his five years, his team won district titles four times and included an… Read more »