Legend, personified

It’s not often you run into coaching royalty at the high school level, nowadays.

But when it comes to 66-year-old Darrell Burmeister, royalty and legendary are synonymous with his name.

The well-known Nodaway Valley boys basketball coach (currently co-head coach) has patrolled the sideline for 37 years, seeing generations of ball players walk in and out of both Bridgewater-Fontanelle High School and Nodaway Valley High School.

The program implemented the trademark ‘Nodaway Valley press’ and put the purple, black and white firmly on the map of Southwest Iowa basketball in Burmeister’s tenure.

The achievements and success culminated into a come-from-behind win Tuesday night in Greenfield for Burmeister’s 600th in his career, all with either Bridgewater-Fontanelle or Nodaway Valley. In doing so, he became the 18th coach in Iowa history to do so and is the ninth active coach to achieve the milestone.

To do it all at one school, Burmeister said, means even more.

“The opportunity to do this all at one school, it’s pretty special,” Burmeister said. “You’ll see coaches get 600, but they’re scattered about. To do it in one community, it’s pretty special to me. I was like 23 when I first came [here] and they gave me chance. I guess I tried to pay back as much as I could by working hard every day. I’ll be forever grateful for the support here that I’ve had over the years.”

For Burmeister, it wasn’t about how as much as it was when No. 600 would come.

“It’s a relief. The other ones I knew were going to come. We had lots of players and the schedule wasn’t as strong as it is now,” said Burmeister. “... Our non-conference schedule is so strong. There’s no guarantee we were going to get 11 wins this season. As we lost those last tough games, you start to think a little bit, but you tell the players, ‘I’m going back for the next 20 years or so. I’m going to get it eventually anyway so don’t worry about 600. Just go out and play.’”

The social science teacher for the high school will be retiring from teaching this summer, but isn’t quite ready to leave the basketball program yet. Burmeister, who also coaches cross country for NV in the fall, said he enjoys the ability to make a difference every day he coaches.

“Hopefully, they’ll let me coach a couple more years, cross country and basketball, because I can’t walk away from it completely,” said Burmeister. “I really enjoy coming to school every day and trying to make a difference in people’s lives. I think that’s what teaching and coaching is. The wins are nice, but you try to make a difference in people’s lives is the main thing about teaching and coaching. ... Other people should think about going into it because there’s not too many professions where you can make a difference, and this is one of them.”

From then to now

Looking back to the very beginning, Burmeister said he never would have fathomed getting to 600.

“Never thought about it,” said Burmeister. “I had 99 wins at (Bridgewater-Fontanelle) in 10 years, so I was still learning. ... Coach Ron Juhler was the coach at Greenfield, said he’d be athletic director, and gave up the job here so I could be the head coach at Nodaway Valley. ... We had some nice strings, early on.”

Burmeister remarked on the five undefeated seasons the Wolverines had after the merger of the schools in 1994-95. One of the most well-known and memorable seasons for Burmeister was the 27-1 2005-06 season, which ended in a 46-39 Class 2A state title win over Fort Dodge, St. Edmond.

Since then, the Wolverines have had five 20-plus win seasons, a state-runner up finish in 2005 and four state-qualifying seasons after that. They’ve had one under-.500 season, which came in 2017-18.

“This wouldn’t have started without my athletic director at Bridgewater-Fontanelle, he’s the one that gave me an opportunity,” said Burmeister. “I was there for five years and was age 29 when I got the head coaching job. ... I waited patiently until it was my turn and James Wood said, ‘OK B, it’s yours. You want it, you got it.’”

Under his direction, Nodaway Valley has churned out 30 all-state players. The names Jackson Lamb, TJ Bower, Brad Baudler, Alex Welsch, Eric Raasch and current co-head coach James Larson are a handful of names that are seen on record books that have received all-state honors. The aforementioned have also been part of a program that has won 13 Pride of Iowa Conference championships and will likely get more.

Looking at the kids of now and then, Burmeister said he’s been on the benefitting end of a lot of hard-working, dedicated athletes, as well as a dedicated and loyal following.

“I had so many teams where the parents would take these kids to basketball tournaments on Saturday in second and third grade through junior high. I really got the benefit from that,” said Burmeister. “... It took a lot of work, a lot of dedicated players, dedicated coaches and supportive administration. ... The fan base has been outstanding.”

The legacy of those who bought in and dedicated themselves to Burmeister’s basketball program is flanked by his success as a cross country coach on the East-facing wall of the NVHS gym.

Banners upon banners show living proof to the success, which was well earned through the dedication and effort put in.

“There’s a lot of old sayings. ‘The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary,’” said Burmeister. “Our kids have bought into work, no matter what I coach. ... You have to have buy in, and you have to have trust. ... You’ve got to be demanding.”

Ray Stewart, Rich Woodside, James Nelson, Danny Denton, Richard Koehler, Dan Jameson, Steve Shantz, Zack Leeper, Taylor Ashman, Keith Kiburz, Brad Baudler, Brett Welch and Larson were named and thanked for their dedication to the program, assisting where needed and going above and beyond in their duties over the years.

Showing the love

After the conclusion of Tuesday night’s game, Mount Ayr boys basketball head coach Bret Ruggles had all love to Burmeister after taking a 66-53 loss.

“You hate [for it] to be you. But you know it has to sometimes be you,” said Ruggles, the second longest tenured boys basketball coach in the Pride of Iowa. “... Good for Darrell. He’s been a legend here. It feels like every coach in the POI is chasing him. ... There’s a lot of young coaches, and they don’t quite know Darrell the way we do. ... I’m very proud to know I’ve been on the other side of that for several of those 600 wins.”

Larson was also candid in his comments on Burmeister. A former player and state champion under ‘Coach B,’ Larson has been able to step in and coach the team in Burmeister’s absence due to hip surgery in late 2018.

“He’ll go down as one of the best coaches in Nodaway Valley history,” said Larson. “Not just in basketball, but as an all-around coach. The time and effort he puts into it, he’s kind of set the stage for everyone else to succeed. It takes that one person to show that change and show that we can be successful in any sport, cross country, track or basketball. ... It just takes that one cross country championship, it just takes that one time making it to state.”

Larson went on, looking up at the previously mentioned banners on the East wall of the gym.

“I’m looking at it now, we got 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015 (state appearances),” said Larson. “That one moment creates the tone for the rest of our program. You see the success and I think girls and boys can learn from it and think ‘I can be successful. I can be a state champ.’ He’s done a lot for the program, put in so many hours, underpaid for it too.

“Legend is a great word to describe him,” Larson said.