High School

The three seniors on the girls' basketball team posed with their coach after the game. (Photo by MB Rader)

Ziegler reaches milestone

By Erin Willett

February 07, 2005

Coach Loren Ziegler has paced the basketball court at Silver Lake for 26 years. His dedication paid off on Jan.7 at Wabaunsee when he reached a milestone: 400 career wins as head girls’ basketball coach.

Because he is a constant fixture on the sidelines, it’s not surprising to see him earn a distinction such as this.

His celebration of his 400th win was on Saturday, Jan. 15 at home against Pleasant Ridge.

“Some people knew it was my 400th win, and it got around, so at the Pleasant Ridge game, I got a plaque and a basketball and a cake, which was nice,” said Ziegler.

Ziegler felt proud when he received the award for his 400th win.

“Probably two things: really, number one would be a sense of accomplishment and staying with it. It would have been a lot easier just to say, ‘Well after five years, that’s enough, or 10 years or 15 years. But getting to 20 something years, that’s getting to be a quite a long time.

“Just a sense of accomplishment and also a sense of pride of being involved in the school and a program that’s been that successful and nothing but good players throughout the years,” he said.

His players enjoyed being part of his achievement.

“It was an honor to play that game with him, and I congratulate him on the win,” said senior post player Ronnie Anderson.

Senior post player Rachelle DeShazo agreed.

The girls' basketball team presented a cake to their coach. (Photo by MB Rader)

“I’m excited for Zig, and I am proud that I could be part of the team that gave that 400th win,” she added.

He is certainly no stranger to coaching. Ziegler coached the following sports at Silver Lake High School during these respective years: volleyball 1989-1997; high school track 1980-1993; junior high track 1993-present; high school football 1980-1987, 1998-present; and basketball since 1980.

Ziegler said his sweetest wins are against Silver Lake’s rival schools.

“I’ve had a lot of them, but most of them would probably be against our rival schools like St. Marys and Riley County, also some of the big tournaments. We won a big game in 1988 when we won state. We were seeded fifth until we beat the number one team in the semifinals, which was a big win. That was my 100th win, so that’s why it’s a little memorable,” said Ziegler.

Although he has posted many wins, he has also experienced some upsetting losses.

“Those would be every sub-state or state loss. I don’t know if any of them hurt more than the rest. I never like to see the players see the end with a loss, but that’s part of the game sometimes.

I would say probably the loss that we had at the state tournament in 2001 and probably the loss at the state tournament in 2003, where I thought we had really good teams, and a chance to win it all,” said Ziegler.

When Ziegler was first hired to coach at SLHS, he served as the freshman and JV basketball coach. Ziegler explained why he wanted to be a girl’s basketball coach.

“I wanted the job, so I took it. I just kind of got started in it, liked it, and then decided to get out of it. They needed an assistant coach for girls; I accepted for the teaching position and the coaching went with it and overall, I got the job as the coach,” he said.

Ziegler was inspired by his coach and the love of the game.

“I’ve always had an interest in sports, since I was a kid growing up. I had two older brothers, and we were always doing something: throwing the football around, shooting baskets, chasing each other and fighting, and wrestling. I’ve always had an interest in sports, watching it, playing it. When I was in high school, my high school coach said that later I was going to end up being a coach because I would always strategize when I was not in the game to see what could be next,” he said.

Ziegler has motivated many players throughout his career.

“He inspired me because he is never satisfied,” said Anderson.

“Zig has inspired me to always believe in myself and my teammates,” said DeShazo.

Ziegler explained this milestone does not indicate an end to his career.

“I’m probably going to stay with it. I mean one sport or another. I might stay with girls’ basketball, football, and track. I’ve done volleyball and cross-country. I’ve done a lot of different sports that I’ll probably stay with it, until I quit teaching, which I don’t know how many more years that’ll be, eight or nine.

As long as I enjoy it, I still enjoy doing it and if I feel like I’m not doing a good job or I don’t enjoy coming to practice, then I’ll probably get out. I’m hoping that won’t be for a few more years,” he said.

He described how coaching can enhance the team to progress.

“What I enjoy most about coaching is seeing teams come together and seeing improvement. The winning is kind of the by-product, but some of my better years is when we haven’t had probably the best teams or haven’t gone as far as the sub-states or states. I’ve had some teams I’ve really enjoyed coaching because I felt improvement and I felt like we overachieved; we did better than what people thought we could maybe do,” said Ziegler.

Ziegler has a tendency to motivate players to accomplish their goals.

“He always pushes us to do our best!” said Anderson.

“I have played Zig for four years, and over those years, I have learned from him that to be a winning team, you must believe that you are a winning team; This has made me become a better player,” said DeShazo.

Ziegler predicted what his future teams will need to do to be successful.

“Hopefully, they will be just like we have been in the last several years; very competitive, play hard, play together, and win the majority of our games. I think we will be talented and competitive in the next several years,” said Ziegler.