March 28, 2024

Thoughts roll around in my head

I have thoughts all over the place this week.

First, there’s the buzz former Newton High standout receiver Nick Easley is creating at Iowa spring football. Easley is a junior, who transfered to Iowa from Iowa Western Community College at semester. He had a breakout season for IWCC, leading the NJCAA in receiving.

During his first press conference of the spring season, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz had a lot of praise for Easley. I bumped into Easley at NHS a week ago during his spring break. He said football and classes were going well for him.

A week ago would have been a great weekend to be in Manhattan, Kan., at least for me. It was a good weekend for Kansas State Wildcat teams at home.

The Kansas State women handled Drake in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at Bramlage Coliseum. There was a lot of social media turmoil here in Iowa when the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed as to the seeding of the Drake women’s team. Hey, the Bulldogs had a tremendous season, but so did my Wildcats.

If there hadn’t been a scheduling snafu at Stanford, the point of “home” court would have been moot. It was not the Big 12 nor K-State’s decision to have the first two rounds at Manhattan. Home court didn’t help my Wildcats on Monday against Stanford. I don’t think Drake would have fared any better against the Cardinal.

I’ve taken a special interest — other than being an alumni — in the KSU women’s basketball team the past four years. The daughter of a very good friend of mine, who was a special player for her high school and Emporia State University in Kansas, played for the Wildcats. She had a solid career on the hardwoods for the Wildcats.

Now, I’ll make everybody in the Newton Daily News newsroom mad with this next item. My Wildcats won 2-of-3 baseball games against the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes last weekend. They played at KSU’s Tointon Family Stadium. The Cats won the first two games, 3-0 and 5-4, and the Hawkeyes claimed a 12-11 win on Sunday.

Basketball is getting further and further in distance in my rear view mirror. For the area high school basketball teams, they’ve put away the basketballs and uniforms for another season. Awards and banquets are being given.

Following the Iowa boys’ basketball tournament, the Iowa Newspaper Association released its All-State teams for each class and announced the 2017 Mr. Basketball. Later, the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association released its all-substate teams and players of the year for each class and its 2017 Mr. Basketball.

Social media rumbled again from players, coaches and media members about the INA 2017 Mr. Basketball honor going to Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Joe Smoldt. How dare they give it to a Class 1A player over a Class 4A player? How dare they give it to a player headed to a NCAA Division II program over one going to a NCAA D I program?

The turmoil continued along those lines. These people believed Iowa City West’s Connor McCaffery should have been given the 2017 honor.

Well, when the IBCA’s selections were released, guess who was named it’s Mr. Basketball? Right, Smoldt was chosen as the coaches’ Iowa Mr. Basketball. McCaffery was named Class 4A player of the year.

Here in Newton, boys’ basketball caught fire behind the Cardinals as they marched their way into the Class 4A state tournament. Before the 2016-17 season even began, there were rumblings about Newton High head coach Bill Liley was leaving following the season. I heard it throughout the season, but Liley never gave a hint of any truth to the talk. He was focused on each game guiding the Newton boys through an outstanding season.

With no one else around following the state tournament loss, I asked Coach Liley if that was his final game as NHS head coach. Liley smiled and laughed a bit.

“I’m not ready to answer that yet. There’s nothing been decided,” Liley said. “I’m going to take some time here, maybe even go home (Seattle, Wash.) for a bit and come back. I’m going to take some time to figure out what I want to do. The town of Newton has been amazing. It’s been a nice little safe haven for me — to help me find myself again as far as coaching. I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to do with the kids in this program. Obviously, we’ve ignited something here with this fan base’s love of basketball. I love to see that move forward. I haven’t made a decision what I’m going to do.”

So, Coach Liley is trying to figure out what the future holds for him. He told me when he has made the decision, he’d let me know.

Thoughts in my head roll around to spring sports seasons. We take off on Monday and go full tilt from spring to summer high school sports here in Iowa.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets
at jsheets@newtondailynews.com