Marty McKowen retires after 43 years as head boys basketball coach at Wapsie Valley

MUSCATINE - It was the plan all along.

Marty McKowen knew going into this boys basketball season that this would be his last as a coach. The Wapsie Valley legend has been at it 43 years, which is a long time.

A very long time.

He coached his sons Jon and Brooks at the school. Won a state championship in 2020, with Jon behind the team bench consulting with him.

McKowen officially announced his retirement Friday.

“Time to chase the grandkids,” he said with a smile.

Which already he was doing Friday night. McKowen was in Muscatine wearing his Cedar Rapids Kennedy basketball pullover, watching Jon’s Cougars play a Class 4A substate semifinal game.

Drew McKowen, Jon’s middle son and Marty’s grandson, was a freshman starter for Kennedy.

“I can honestly say all the games and practices, I never had a bad day,” McKowen said. “You know, I guess it's something I thought about before the year started. Just something I need to do.“

McKowen won 690 games in his career, which ranks 10th all time in the state. His final Wapsie Valley team went 17-8 playing in the always rugged, mostly Class 2A North Iowa Cedar League.

Wapsie is a Class 1A school.

Brooks McKowen, by the way, is a successful college coach in his first year at Missouri Western after a long stint at Upper Iowa. Trey McKowen, another of Jon’s sons, plays for him there.

Traveling to watch his sons and grandkids play is the plan for Marty McKowen and his wife Marti. They also have a daughter Brittney McKowen Kuhr, who was a coach and who has children who play hoops.

“So we're here tonight,” Marty McKowen said Friday night. “We’ll stay in Cedar Rapids tonight, drive to Nebraska tomorrow because Brittney’s boys play this weekend. She's right outside Omaha in Wahoo, Nebraska, and I have not seen her second one play at all this year.

“So he plays this weekend, so I can see those games. Then we're gonna go home on Monday, then Wednesday or Thursday take back off and go down to the conference tournament for Brooks and Trey. I mean, it's perfect.”

This is retirement? For a life-long basketball guy, you bet it is.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com