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Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 10:18 am
by hoopsfan21
There are a number of great coaches in the state that have never been able to make it to the state tournament. Any thoughts?

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:09 am
by hfs77
Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:19 am
by Flying Wallenda
hfs77 wrote:Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)


Howson's is a no-brainer. Mike Monson from Midkota is another. I don't believe Charlie Jordan from Langdon made it...correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:42 pm
by The Schwab
Flying Wallenda wrote:
hfs77 wrote:Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)


Howson's is a no-brainer. Mike Monson from Midkota is another. I don't believe Charlie Jordan from Langdon made it...correct me if I'm wrong.


I played for Howson and yea he's for sure a no brainer...but what puts Mike Monson up there...he's had alot of talent and never won...just wondering

Howson lost in 4 straight region finals if i'm not mistaken. He had to play against the likes of Mayville-Portland and Hillsboro back in the day.

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:05 pm
by Flying Wallenda
The Schwab wrote:
Flying Wallenda wrote:
hfs77 wrote:Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)


Howson's is a no-brainer. Mike Monson from Midkota is another. I don't believe Charlie Jordan from Langdon made it...correct me if I'm wrong.


I played for Howson and yea he's for sure a no brainer...but what puts Mike Monson up there...he's had alot of talent and never won...just wondering

Howson lost in 4 straight region finals if i'm not mistaken. He had to play against the likes of Mayville-Portland and Hillsboro back in the day.


Monson has over 300 wins all the while coaching against schools with double Midkota's enrollment (Carrington, Four Winds, Harvey, New Rockford, Wells County, to name a few). He's made the regionals 11 times in 23 years, including 2 regional finals and 4 regional semifinals. He's won multiple district and regional coach of the year awards. To say he's never won is laughable. A few of Monson's good teams got knocked off by his brothers tough Carrington Cardinals teams of the 80s, and the excellent Leeds/Wolford teams of the early to mid 90's.

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:10 pm
by The Schwab
Flying Wallenda wrote:
The Schwab wrote:
Flying Wallenda wrote:
hfs77 wrote:Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)


Howson's is a no-brainer. Mike Monson from Midkota is another. I don't believe Charlie Jordan from Langdon made it...correct me if I'm wrong.


I played for Howson and yea he's for sure a no brainer...but what puts Mike Monson up there...he's had alot of talent and never won...just wondering

Howson lost in 4 straight region finals if i'm not mistaken. He had to play against the likes of Mayville-Portland and Hillsboro back in the day.


Monson has over 300 wins all the while coaching against schools with double Midkota's enrollment (Carrington, Four Winds, Harvey, New Rockford, Wells County, to name a few). He's made the regionals 11 times in 23 years, including 2 regional finals and 4 regional semifinals. He's won multiple district and regional coach of the year awards. To say he's never won is laughable. A few of Monson's good teams got knocked off by his brothers tough Carrington Cardinals teams of the 80s, and the excellent Leeds/Wolford teams of the early to mid 90's.


I'm not saying he's not a good coach...but i just don't think he's up there with Howson in this topic...and so in the 11 trips to regionals he's had a first round exit 7 times...or 5 times...depending on how you broke it down...and if district and region coaches of the year were given to the "best coach" every year...some coaches would have 30.....

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:56 pm
by Flying Wallenda
The Schwab wrote:
Flying Wallenda wrote:
The Schwab wrote:
Flying Wallenda wrote:
hfs77 wrote:Jim Howson - Hatton (500+ career wins)


Howson's is a no-brainer. Mike Monson from Midkota is another. I don't believe Charlie Jordan from Langdon made it...correct me if I'm wrong.


I played for Howson and yea he's for sure a no brainer...but what puts Mike Monson up there...he's had alot of talent and never won...just wondering

Howson lost in 4 straight region finals if i'm not mistaken. He had to play against the likes of Mayville-Portland and Hillsboro back in the day.


Monson has over 300 wins all the while coaching against schools with double Midkota's enrollment (Carrington, Four Winds, Harvey, New Rockford, Wells County, to name a few). He's made the regionals 11 times in 23 years, including 2 regional finals and 4 regional semifinals. He's won multiple district and regional coach of the year awards. To say he's never won is laughable. A few of Monson's good teams got knocked off by his brothers tough Carrington Cardinals teams of the 80s, and the excellent Leeds/Wolford teams of the early to mid 90's.


I'm not saying he's not a good coach...but i just don't think he's up there with Howson in this topic...and so in the 11 trips to regionals he's had a first round exit 7 times...or 5 times...depending on how you broke it down...and if district and region coaches of the year were given to the "best coach" every year...some coaches would have 30.....


Monson has been one of the top 4 teams in his region once every 4 years he's coached, again, with the odds stacked against him. I coached against and know Howson personally, so no way am I going to bash him, he's a good coach and a better man, but if you're saying that Howson is better than Monson because he's won 500 games, i'll say the reason he has is because he's coached over 40 years. If you say that the reason Howson is better than Monson because he's been to 4 regional finals and lost to Mayville and and Hillsboro, I'll say that his Hatton-Northwood teams underachieved by getting clipped in the regionals before getting to the finals(by the way, I DON'T believe that)...but ya see, its all how you look at it. As for the "best" coach getting the coach of the year award, you're right, its often times given to the coach that has got the most out of his guys, which in my opinion is what makes a coach great....besides, coach of the year awards are voted on by the coaches, its hard to argue when the majority of the coaches in the district/region think you did the best with your guys throughout the year....and who is a better judge of how good a coach is, his peers, or members of the crowd?

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:41 pm
by tommykramer
First off I want to preface my comments, I like Mr. Howson and I think that he is a darn good basketball coach that deserves to be in this category (best coach never to make it to state). But, it is well known in coaching circles that coach Howson counts his J.V. victories WHILE he was also coaching Varsity. Those victories are supposed to not count. I'm also trying to remember when he made any region finals in the 70's, 80's, or 90's.
Again, I think coach Howson is a good coach but the arguements being made that Mike Monson doesn't deserve to be on this list and that Jim Howson does are not valid. Jim also has had good talent (dude Lavin was probably the best player in the state his Junior and Senior years) and not made it to state.
I would say this about both Mike Monson and JIm Howson, they probably are two of the better coaches at getting the most out of their less than talented teams.

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:34 pm
by Old Baller
I'd like to nominate my former high school coach Bill Michelson of Wing. He had some darn good teams in the 60's but we could never make it out of the Regionals. Not his fault; we players failed him. Ironically, he was on the bench the night in 1977 when Wing beat Edgeley for its first Regional title and went to State for the first time. Wing's coach at the time was Otto Uhde. Well, Otto was excitable to say the least. The game was close and Otto got too "excited" and was ejected by the officials. So there they are with no coach. The officials got ahold of Wing's superintendent and told him the team needed a coach for the game to continue. I remember him saying something like "I've got just the man for you" and pulled Bill out of the crowd to coach the remainder of the game. Wing rallied in the last few minutes and won. Bill's son Tim was a guard on that team. Wing took 3rd at State that year and 4th the following year in '78. Ahhh...memories.

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:23 pm
by winner-within
Old Baller wrote:I'd like to nominate my former high school coach Bill Michelson of Wing. He had some darn good teams in the 60's but we could never make it out of the Regionals. Not his fault; we players failed him. Ironically, he was on the bench the night in 1977 when Wing beat Edgeley for its first Regional title and went to State for the first time. Wing's coach at the time was Otto Uhde. Well, Otto was excitable to say the least. The game was close and Otto got too "excited" and was ejected by the officials. So there they are with no coach. The officials got ahold of Wing's superintendent and told him the team needed a coach for the game to continue. I remember him saying something like "I've got just the man for you" and pulled Bill out of the crowd to coach the remainder of the game. Wing rallied in the last few minutes and won. Bill's son Tim was a guard on that team. Wing took 3rd at State that year and 4th the following year in '78. Ahhh...memories.


You are a true encyclopedia...I love it! great story...I remember Wing getting alot of Hype and then Epping snuck in there to play for the title...Was Wing in Hillsboro's Bracket? I don't remember

Re: Best coach never to make it to state

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:42 pm
by Old Baller
winner-within wrote:
Old Baller wrote:I'd like to nominate my former high school coach Bill Michelson of Wing. He had some darn good teams in the 60's but we could never make it out of the Regionals. Not his fault; we players failed him. Ironically, he was on the bench the night in 1977 when Wing beat Edgeley for its first Regional title and went to State for the first time. Wing's coach at the time was Otto Uhde. Well, Otto was excitable to say the least. The game was close and Otto got too "excited" and was ejected by the officials. So there they are with no coach. The officials got ahold of Wing's superintendent and told him the team needed a coach for the game to continue. I remember him saying something like "I've got just the man for you" and pulled Bill out of the crowd to coach the remainder of the game. Wing rallied in the last few minutes and won. Bill's son Tim was a guard on that team. Wing took 3rd at State that year and 4th the following year in '78. Ahhh...memories.


You are a true encyclopedia...I love it! great story...I remember Wing getting alot of Hype and then Epping snuck in there to play for the title...Was Wing in Hillsboro's Bracket? I don't remember


No. Epping beat Wing in the semi's as I recall. If Wing could have won that game there never would have been the historic final that to this day is still talked about as one of the most memorable state finals ever. Wing beat Minnewauken for 3rd place.