Carlson on verge of 400th

One win. That’s all it will take for Iola High’s Becky Carlson to reach 400 career coaching wins. That’s a milestone for any coach to reach.
In sports everything is counted. Statistics are used.
As for Carlson, she would have allowed this milestone to just slip by without any fanfare. She is proud of the victories her teams have put up and it is all about the girls.
Iola High’s Fillies have given Carlson 66 victories in her first five years as head coach in Iola. The other 333 came as the head girls’ basketball coach at Hillsboro High.
Carlson’s high school coaching record stands at 399 wins, 195 losses. She has guided Iola High’s Fillies to a Kansas Class 4A State Championship in 2006. She guided Hillsboro to back-to-back Class 3A state championships in 1995 and 1996.
Carlson is an Elsmore native and graduate of Marmaton Valley High School in Moran. She played basketball for Allen County Community College and Tabor College in Hillsboro.
When talking coaching records, Carlson always points out the only undefeated team she coached was the Hillsboro Junior High girls. They were 17-0 in 1983-84. The next year Carlson moved up to the HHS head coaching position.
Tonight is the first opportunity for the Fillies to give Carlson that 400th coaching win. The Fillies travel to Osawatomie to play the Lady Trojans.
Osawatomie is much like Iola on the girls’ side. The Fillies were 8-14 last year while the Lady Trojans went 7-14. Both teams have four starters returning.
So tonight’s game at OHS should be a good one.
Iola High’s Mustangs are under new direction with head coach Bill Peeper. Peeper, who had a strong run as head coach at Syracuse High School, takes over a team that went 5-18 a year ago.
The Mustangs take on Osawatomie tonight in the opener. The Trojans were 19-3 last year and return three starters.
In two years, Iola and Osawatomie will meet on a yearly basis as Iola joins the ranks of the Pioneer League.
Iola High’s basketball teams head to Garnett next week for a preseason tournament hosted by Anderson County High School, which also is a Pioneer League school.
The Fillies and Mustangs play Tuesday and Thursday in the round-robin format against Baldwin and Burlington. Friday’s opponent is determined by where teams place in their tournament pool play.
Let the games begin.