(KMAland) -- We have reached the 35th week of the 2023-24 sports calendar, and we open this week like we usually do. And that’s with Seven Points.
Point 1: Who is Skip Eckhardt? Let’s dive in…
For many, this question of who is Skip Eckhardt can be answered in one way: He’s a coach. Eckhardt has been a coach nearly all of his life, and he definitely has been for all of his professional life. After graduating from Cresco in the late 1970s, Eckhardt went on to play football for the University of Northern Iowa. After three years as a starter and as a captain in his senior year, that coaching life began as an assistant at his high school alma mater in 1981.
It didn’t take long for someone to realize his abilities as a potential head coach. Eckhardt was scooped up by Schleswig in 1982, and he stayed there through 1986. During his time with the Hawks, which is just 12 miles away from my hometown of Denison, Eckhardt coached his team to five conference championships and a state title in Class A in 1984. One of his players on that 1984 team is Jay Petersen.
“The man is a winner,” Petersen told me. “I was lucky to have him as my head football coach at Schleswig, and I coached with him for a year in the early 90s. I saw him transform two different school’s cultures into winning (cultures). He believes in hard work and dedication in the weight room.”
Eckhardt expects the best out of his players, as he gives just that as their coach.
“He has high standards,” Petersen said. “He holds players accountable and will push teams to be their very best.”
Following his stint in Schleswig, Eckhardt went back to UNI to become the school’s defensive line coach. He stayed there for a year before taking over at North Tama in 1988. According to my research, North Tama went 6-3 in his one year as head coach, and that’s when he made a return to KMAland as the South Page head coach.
The South Page program had been struggling at that time, but they were able to go 3-6 during his first two years in College Springs. The following year, the Rebels saw a jump to 7-2 and then went 8-1 in 1992 with a tight 21-14 loss to eventual state champion Bedford as their only defeat.
Steve Irvin was the South Page athletic director during Eckhardt’s tenure.
“Skip came to South Page when we had a surge in our boy’s athletic talent,” Irvin said. “He went to work promoting weight training and discipline. His teams were characterized by strong offensive and defensive lines, and he developed an offense anchored in a tough running game.”
“I remember my parents saying, he’s going to make you a winner,” a former player of Eckhardt’s at South Page, Ken McBride, told KMA Sports. “He’s going to make you a better person. That happened. He brought an intensity that I had never seen before. I’ve played for some pretty good coaches. His heart, his passion for the game, his knowledge of the game is something he will bring.”
After turning South Page around, his home came calling. Eckhardt returned to Cresco and became the head coach of a Crestwood program that had lost 37 consecutive games. By his fourth game as head coach, they snapped that losing skid.
“I vividly remember storming the field that season when we snapped the losing streak,” Tony Neubauer told me.
Neubauer, who is the girls basketball coach at Creston presently, was an eighth grade student at the time at Crestwood.
“Within three years, we went from a 37-game losing streak to the state playoffs under Skip,” Neubauer added. “He was larger than life to us. He got our weight program rolling, which set us up for success and four state playoff trips from 1995 to 1999. Coach Eckhardt is a football guy to the core, and one of the best line coaches in the state of Iowa. His teams are always well-coached and extremely physical.”
Following a strong three-year run at Crestwood, Eckhardt tried his hand at some of the higher enrollment schools, spending 10 years between Davenport Central, Davenport North, Davenport West and North Scott. He went back to the college game under friend and former Clarinda coach Randy Schrader at Rockford in 2006 through 2010.
“I’ve hired him three times,” Schrader said. “I don’t know if you can find a better offensive line coach in the state of Iowa, let alone the Midwest. He’s awesome with the technique and relationships with kids. He’s a proven program builder. He’s a big-time weight room guy, so they’re going to get bigger, faster, stronger and they’re going to be tough. The standard is the standard. You’re going to be tough, and you’re going to be physical.”
In 2011, it was back to the small-school high school game, taking over a struggling AGWSR program. In the four years prior to Eckhardt’s arrival, they were 7-29. He was at AGWSR from 2011 through 2015. After a 1-8 record in his first season, AGWSR went 24-8 in the next four and were 29-22 in his five seasons as head coach.
AGWSR made the move to Class 8-Player in the next season, and Coach Eckhardt went back home to Crestwood and spent a year as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He followed up with one year as an assistant at Cedar Falls. The two seasons led to a combined 16 wins.
In 2018, he began his second stint as head coach at his alma mater, taking over as the Crestwood coach. He was there for three seasons and 15 wins before joining the aforementioned Schrader at ADM, where they served as assistant coaches under head coach Garrison Carter. ADM won 24 games during Eckhardt’s three seasons with the program.
“His knowledge of the game is superior to anyone I have come in contact with,” Carter told KMA Sports. “What truly sets Skip apart from his peers is his ability to form relationships with kids and motivate them to maximize every bit of their talent. He is the most loyal person I know. If I was going to war and could only bring one person me, Skip would be the guy.”
Now, Eckhardt takes over the Shenandoah football program. If you’ve paid attention to the many comments from former players and people he’s worked with or for, it sure looks like Shenandoah is getting someone that believes greatly in the weight room, working hard and putting a tough, physical unit on the football field. And when it comes to teaching, it would be hard to find someone that is better along the offensive line.
“The man was born to be a football coach,” Jay Petersen concluded in his email to me.
Now, let’s let the man coach.
Point 2: Hawkeye Ten Conference Standings
Again, I am keeping track of the head-to-head conference records for tennis, soccer and golf this spring. Here’s a look at the Hawkeye Ten Conference.
Girls Tennis: The only remaining undefeated dual records in the conference come from Kuemper Catholic, Creston and Denison-Schleswig with Lewis Central (3-1), Clarinda (1-1) and St. Albert (1-1) suffering one loss.
Boys Tennis: Shenandoah (4-0) is off to a flying start with wins over Clarinda, Atlantic, St. Albert and Denison-Schleswig. Glenwood (3-0) and Kuemper Catholic (2-0) are also undefeated at the moment with the rest of the league at least two losses behind.
Girls Soccer: While St. Albert suffered their first overall loss this past weekend, they have not lost in the conference with a 4-0 record. That includes a huge win over Glenwood (1-1) last week. Lewis Central (2-0) is also undefeated in the conference while Denison-Schleswig, Harlan and Atlantic join Glenwood at 1-1.
Boys Soccer: Two teams have undefeated records in the conference. Glenwood (2-0) and Lewis Central (2-0) are both flawless through two games with St. Albert (4-1) and Denison-Schleswig (1-1) one game back in the loss column. St. Albert’s loss is to Glenwood while the Monarchs lost to LC.
Girls Golf: Atlantic (4-0) is having a tremendous spring on the links while Red Oak (1-0) is also undefeated, although they’ve had just one dual to this point. Denison-Schleswig (2-1), Clarinda (1-1) and Lewis Central (1-1) all have one loss.
Boys Golf: Shenandoah, Kuemper Catholic and Lewis Central are all 1-0, and they lead the league, which hasn’t had a ton of duals to this point. Glenwood, Atlantic, Denison-Schleswig and Clarinda all have have 1-1 records.
Point 3: Western Iowa Conference Standings
Girls Golf: Treynor and IKM-Manning are both off to 3-0 starts to the season in WIC dual action. Riverside (2-1) is one game behind in the loss column with their loss coming to Treynor. Underwood (3-2) and Missouri Valley (2-2) are also above .500 or even.
Boys Golf: Missouri Valley (4-0), Treynor (3-0) and Audubon (3-0) are all off to impressive starts to their WIC dual season. Riverside (2-1) is also a game back in the loss column.
Girls Soccer: Underwood (2-0) got the big head-to-head win over Treynor (2-1) this past week. Logan-Magnolia (1-1) is the only other team with a .500 record or better in the conference.
Boys Soccer: Treynor (3-0) beat Underwood (1-1) this past week while AHSTW (1-0) has played just once in the conference and Logan-Magnolia (1-1) is the only other team with a .500 or better record in the WIC to this point.
Point 4: Missouri River Conference standings
Girls Soccer: Bishop Heelan Catholic (3-0) and Sioux City North (2-0) have both put together undefeated records in the conference to this point. Sioux City East (3-1) is a game back in the loss column while Thomas Jefferson (2-1) and LeMars (1-1) are both above or at .500.
Boys Soccer: Sergeant Bluff-Luton (2-0), Bishop Heelan Catholic (2-0) and Sioux City West (1-0) all have undefeated marks in the conference with Abraham Lincoln (1-1), Sioux City East (1-1) and Sioux City North (1-1) all living a game back in the loss column.
Girls Tennis: Thomas Jefferson (2-0) lives at the top of the mountain while Sioux City North (3-1), Bishop Heelan Catholic (2-1) and Sergeant Bluff-Luton (1-1) are all .500 or better and a game back in the loss column.
Boys Tennis: Sioux City North (4-0), Sergeant Bluff-Luton (2-0) and Bishop Heelan Catholic (1-0) have not lost an MRC dual to this point in the season. No other team in the conference has a record at .500 or better.
Girls Golf: Bishop Heelan Catholic (4-0) is perfect while Sergeant Bluff-Luton (3-1) has their only dual loss of the season to Heelan. Sioux City East (2-2) is also living right at .500.
Point 5: Corner Conference & Pride of Iowa Conference standings
Corner Golf: Sidney (2-0) and Fremont-Mills (1-0) are both undefeated in duals to this point on the girl’s side while Sidney (2-0), East Mills (1-0) and Fremont-Mills (1-0) are all unbeaten on the boy’s side.
Pride of Iowa Golf: Mount Ayr’s girls (4-0) have an impressive undefeated record against other POI teams. Southwest Valley (1-0) is also unbeaten, although they have seen just one opponent in the league. On the boy’s side, Wayne (2-0) and East Union (2-0) are unbeaten, and Mount Ayr (4-1) and Nodaway Valley (2-1) are one game back in the loss column.
Point 6: Random Thoughts
The Random Thoughts Fridays have been few and far between of late and completely non-existent since the beginning of the spring sports season. Thursdays are rough, and Fridays are tough. So, here are some Random Thoughts on a Monday…
-UFC 300 was insane. It’s very rare that an event can live up to the hype, but 300 had all the hype and all the payoff. Every single fight had stakes and the results are going to set the stage for what we see over the next year or two in some of our main events and other big-time fights.
-Biggest winners: Max Holloway, Alex Pereira, Arman Tsarukyan, Jiri Prochazka, Kayla Harrison, all of us.
-Biggest losers: Jamahl Hill, Justin Gaethje, Jalin Turner.
-We went into the weekend, and I was thinking the Lakers would be a 10 seed and have to win two road games just to get into the playoffs. Now, they’ll be on the road in a 7/8 and have two chances to get into the postseason. Do they throw their 7/8 game to avoid Denver?
-The answer, of course is no, but Denver sure seems like the only team in the Western Conference playoffs that they absolutely cannot beat.
-The Kansas City Royals are no longer in first place in the American League Central, but they still lead ALL of MLB in run differential. And that’s a thing. Oh, they also get to play the White Sox again, which is a big reason for why they have such a good RD.
-Mark Pope is the best that Kentucky can do at this stage, but he’s still pretty good. He’s one of the best offensive coaches in college basketball. Even if he was probably fourth or fifth on the list for Kentucky fans, it’s still a pretty good option. That said, it feels like he has a bit of a lower ceiling than some of the other potential options like Scott Drew, Nate Oats, Dan Hurley and Billy Donovan. I would have had my reservations of Donovan, though, given he hasn’t been in the college game for quite a bit. And things have changed if you didn’t notice.
Extra Point: Have a great week!
That’s it and that’s all I’ve got today. Stay tuned for an interview with Coach Skip Eckhardt later this week.
Send any questions, comments and/or concerns to dmartin@kmamail.com.
