With the Bears' win this past Friday night over Williamsburg, it was head coach James "Butch" Pedersen's 299th win in his 35+ year head coaching career at West Branch High School.
At just one win shy of the 300 milestone, Coach Pedersen and his team have the opportunity this coming Friday night to hit win number 300 as they welcome the Tipton Tigers to town, the same team that Coach Pedersen recorded his first win against back in 1983. Only 13 other head coaches in Iowa High School Football history have more than 300 wins. A win Friday would also the be the first milestone win that has taken place at home in front of the West Branch community for Coach Pedersen.
At the same time that the Bears are working on their preparations for this week's game, the University of Iowa Football team is doing the same. At Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz's weekly media press conference on Tuesday afternoon, the all-time wins leader was asked about Coach Pedersen's upcoming milestone.
Q. Coach Pederson at West Branch is going for his 300th win on Friday. What do you know about him and what have you seen from him in your overlapping -- what stands out about him?
KIRK FERENTZ: Butch has done such a great job. His son Lance is doing a great job, as well. Bo Bower most recently coming out of that program, Marv Cook. I think that's one of the things I really found unique when I came here to Iowa, the state of Iowa, is the high school coaching in this state, whether it's Pat Mitchell, Ed Thomas, Duane Twait, you can go right down the list, Walt Fiegel, Curt Bladt, currently coaching at Harlan. Think about how many bus rides Curt has taken: Football, wrestling, track. And their away games are not like 10 miles down the road. So you think about our state is in my mind really rich in coaches like that. They're doing it because they really love kids and they love coaching. They're not doing it because they're trying to be whatever. But all those guys I just mentioned in my mind are legends, and Butch is certainly in that category. Those guys are rare people.
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The Bears do battle with the Tipton Tigers this Friday night at the Little Rose Bowl in West Branch. The JV squad kicks off at 5pm with the Varsity following around 7:30pm. Between each game and during the Varsity game, there will be several moments where former and active members of our Armed Forces will be honored. More about Military Appreciation night can be found here.
