Baxter volleyball nabs state-tourney coach

New Baxter volleyball coach Joe Morton has gotten the question a lot. He knows it’s coming. And he’s not afraid to give an answer.

Why exactly did a volleyball coach who guided a Class 5A program to the state tournament in two of the past four seasons decided to leave Ankeny for the 1A Bolts?

“It’s a question I have gotten a lot, and there are two reasons,” Morton said. “The main reason was there were some parents at Ankeny that made that job miserable. And I didn’t need the job. I don’t coach for own personal record or well being. I coach for the kids.”

The other reason was Morton said he wanted and even needed to get back to his small-town roots. He graduated from Prairie City-Monroe in the early 2000s.

“If I was going to stay in the high school world, I wanted it to be in a small town environment,” Morton said. “It’s not that I don’t have high expectations or want that bigger level but at what cost? The Ankeny community is interesting because a handful of parents ruin things for everybody. It makes it miserable. I wanted to remove myself from that situation because I was stressed out. I have a family and didn’t want to bring that to them.”

Morton graduated from PCM and then went to college at Northern Iowa. While attending classes in Cedar Falls, Morton helped coach at Dike-New Hartford, a powerhouse program.

After college, Morton was deployed to the military. He moved to the Des Moines area after the military and coached with a friend at Saydel.

His next stop was Des Moines North to coach basketball. But was also eventually talked into coaching volleyball and he stayed in that position for five years.

After North, Morton moved out of high school volleyball and began coaching club volleyball while also coaching freshmen football at Bondurant-Farrar.

Morton still coaches on the club scene with Iowa Power Volleyball Alliance. He had a connection with Baxter High School Principal and football coach Rob Luther having coached Luther’s daughter at Ankeny.

“Rob and I have a good relationship and I respect him a lot,” Morton said. “He basically recruited me here. This was a way to get me back to my small-town roots. I think I can make more of an impact at this level.”

Morton told me he is planning to bring 5A volleyball to Baxter. And the players are buying in. He promises changes are coming, and I will get my first look at the Bolts during their home opener against East Marshall at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27.

Football season is also here. And Iowa and Iowa State both appeared in the Associated Press national preseason rankings for the first time ever.

The Hawkeyes begin the season ranked No. 20 and Iowa State starts at No. 21. The last time the Cyclones were ranked in the preseason was 1978, two years before I was born.

There is a good chance both teams will still be ranked when they meet on Sept. 14 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

Buckle up. It could be big seasons for both programs.

The Iowa State Fair has come and gone. For the first time in several years, my family and I did not attend the fair. It is not a must for us. I like going. My wife is OK with not attending.

The truth is, it’s an expensive day.

We will probably go back next year. Hopefully the concert list is just as good as it was this year. Slipknot would have been awesome. I would have enjoyed Hootie and the Blowfish. My wife would have had fun at Luke Bryan, Toby Keith and Zach Brown Band.

There’s always next year.

My daughter starts first grade on Friday. Not sure when she decided to grow up and where her summer went but here we are. Her fourth year of dance is also starting back up soon. She is about to be a busy girl again.

Contact Troy Hyde at
thyde@newtondailynews.com.