Ken Cook

 (KLZA) Monday the Nebraska Coaches Association in partnership with the National Athletic Coaches Association announced the finalists for the 2014 High School National Coach of the Year as well as the inductees into the NHSACA Hall of Fame class of 2014.  

Darin Boysen, Executive Director of the Nebraska Coaches Association said Nebraska was honored to have 13 finalists for the Coach of the Year Honor,  including Falls City Sacred Heart Coach Doug Goltz who is a finalist for the Basketball Coach of the Year.

Boysen explained coaches are nominated by an honors committee at the Nebraska Coaches Association which nominates one coach from each sport each year.  Nebraska is in Region VI which includes North and South Dakota, Colorado and Minnesota.  Eventually there are 8 finalists from across the country.

The Coach of the Year award is for career achievement, not just for the past year. 

Goltz called it an honor to be named a finalist. Coach Goltz always makes sure to credit the kids that have played for him with the credit for the success at Sacred Heart.

Currently in his 28th year as the head boys basketball coach at Sacred Heart, Goltz led teams have won 8 state championships and one third place finish in 11 trips to the State Tournament.  Coach Goltz currently has 536 career wins against just 124 losses, which means Sacred Heart has won better than 81 percent of the games Goltz has coached on the hardwood. 

Goltz – led football teams have won 7 state titles and he has 258 football wins and 43 losses in 27 seasons. 

The Coach of the year awards will be presented in June as part of the 2014 National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Convention at Snow King Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  

Goltz will not be the only Southeast Nebraska Coach at Jackson Hole in June.  Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Coach Ken Cook will be inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame during the banquet. 

Cook amassed 260 career football wins in 40 years as a head football coach which included 14 playoff appearances, four state titles and a pair of runner-up finishes.  His teams set a state record from 1974-78 with 41 consecutive wins. Cook coached as Trumbull, Douglas and Adams which eventually became Freeman High School 

In 32 years as a girls basketball head coach at Adams and Freeman Cook had a record of 626 wins and 147 losses with 17 state tournament appearances,  five championships and four second place finishes.  He also  had 116 wins as a boys basketball coach which gave him a total of 732 wins and just 234 losses as a head basketball coach.

Cook was named Coach of the Year in Nebraska a dozen times over his career.  Though officially retired, Cook still helps with the Boys basketball program at Freeman High School.  

Boysen  said Ken Cook has set the bar high for coaches across Nebraska being one of the all-time winningest coaches in the state and helping mentor other coaches.