Shooters Touch

Michael Admire has been strategic about every move he’s made in his career. From choosing Des Moines over warmer locations to essentially creating his position at Drake. He knew he wanted to be in broadcasting very early and made it happen. And now, he’s the voice of the 25th ranked Drake Bulldogs! An atypical guest for us, but a great story and a passionate Des Moines resident. Enjoy!

Brad Bjorkgren has just under 30 years of coaching experience at Urbandale High School and Simpson College. He’s coached players like Tyler and Josh McKinney, as well as Allen Lazard. He values relationships and what he really enjoys is seeing his players succeed after basketball. Enjoy!

Fresh off his 450th win, Bruce Dall hops on with us to talk his upbringing, coaching philosophies and why he would ever leave AGWSR(spoiler, it’s a good reason). It’s very evident from our conversation that Coach Dall values the relationships he forms from coaching and that is something that’s constantly on his mind.

Coaching has been in Kristin Meyers life for as long as she can remember. Her start came coaching volleyball and eventually moving into coaching her true passion, basketball! She has had plenty of great mentors along the way and ha also coached some incredible athletes.

Matt Woodley has over 20 years of coaching experience under his belt in the high school, college and professional ranks. Matt was a wealth of basketball knowledge and is truly passionate about his role as a basketball coach.

2020 was such a different year for everyone. This includes coaches and athletes. At the Shooters Touch we were very fortunate to get the opportunity to interview so many of those great coach and athletes. Words can’t describe how appreciative we are of our guests, listeners and followers. We’re looking forward to 2021 for many reasons, one being to continue to bring your great stories and guests!...

Kraig Ulveling is a Hall of Fame Coach from our neighbors to the North, Minnesota! Don’t worry, he’s originally from Iowa! Kraig racked up 468 total wins while coaching boy’s and girl’s basketball in South Dakota and Minnesota. He’s one of our most energetic guests and has some great stories about his 37 year coaching career.

Coach Marty Richter is one of the most energetic guests we’ve had on the podcast. He’s full of knowledge from his coaching career, head and assistant, and even has experience starting a program from scratch. Talking shop with Marty was interesting and educational as he is a hoop head through and through. We know you’ll enjoy this one!

Nate Steege is a long time friend of the podcast. His beginnings in Fredericksburg were like many of us small town athletes, playing four sports and eventually finding a passion for basketball. After a collegiate career he knew coaching was his path. He’s had many successful teams, players and state tournament runs already and we expect many more! We thoroughly enjoyed talking to Coach Steege abou...

Jeff Horner is a name that all basketball fans from Iowa will recognize! He committed to play for the Hawkeyes as a freshman and continued to improve as he played 4 years in Iowa City. His coaching journey started at Grand View and is currently at Truman State in Missouri. We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Jeff and hope you do too!

We had a great conversation with Coach Vanderloo! He’s an incredible basketball mind and has some great stories! We even talk to him about his top 5 players from Sioux City East!

Coach Martin is a perfect guest for the Shooters Touch. A basketball junkie who has spent a ton of time in the coaching ranks here in Iowa and the Midwest. He comes to Coe from The University of North Dakota where he helped bring that school from Division II to Division I. It's super interested talking to him about that team and some of the trials and tribulations of no post season or conference a...

Aaron Thomas grew up like many did playing every sport he could. Realizing basketball was his best chance for continued play, he accepted a scholarship to play at Drake University. Through a few other schools he is now coaching at Aplington-Parkersburg. He has some great stories about his influences, his philosophy and how hard work still plays a vital part in playing at the next level!

Coach Jilek's passion for coaching is unrivaled. Originally from Mason City, he was a multi sport athlete and his first love was baseball. Like a lot of our guests he got his basketball coaching start by chance and necessity. One of his strategies is to grow a program from the younger athletes to create total buy in. It seems to be working as Johnston was the 2020 class 5a Girls champions and Coac...

Doug McDermott ranks 5th all time in scoring in NCAA history and is one of 3 players with 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. His team at Ames High, where he teamed up with Harrison Barnes, was one of the best to come through the state of Iowa. As usual, we talk to Doug about everything from childhood to his brand new NBA coach! He has a great story of hard work and knowing where he wanted to go. It'...

Justin Ohl's coaching career started under Dr. Tom Davis at Drake University. Then went on to coach a team with a 28-5 record and a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. He's had some talented teams come through Waukee High School as well. But quite possibly his most talented team will step on the floor for him this year. We talked to him about expectations, how COVID has affected the off-season and how...

If you're a college basketball fan, you know Ali Farokhmanesh. But, did you know he had ZERO scholarship offers coming out of high school? Ali shares that story and many more with us on this episode. He calls his dagger shot against KU " just another shot." And the way he talks about it, we believe him! This interview was a long time coming and did not disappoint!

We venture out of our typical geography and head West to New Mexico State University. Chris Jans is a former Iowan who has moved around quite a bit as a coach. Notably Grand View University, Kirkwood College and Wichita State University. Chris has a great story about his path to college basketball coach that we know you will enjoy!

Coach Oliver Drake and BC go back a long time to their days as an assistant coach and player respectively. We talk to Coach Drake about family, hoops, his players, and how he got a job coaching golf when he doesn't even really play golf! He's one of the most passionate guys we've ever talked to and that will definitely show in the podcast. Enjoy!

596 wins, State Champion coach, All Iowa Boys Coach of the Year 19-20 are just a few things that we could describe Marty McKowen as. He's been coaching at Wapsie Valley for 37 years. A school/job that he admittedly thought to be a stepping stone job for something bigger and better. But he fell in love with the community, school and teaching young kids the game of basketball. Marty is an incredible...

As many of our guests have, Nate has many connections to us here at the Shooters Touch. He's worked with BC at many team camps and played high school ball in the NICL as AV did. Currently he's working with the Chicago Bulls, his favorite childhood team. Nate's passion around developing players is incredible and he truly loves what he does! We hope you enjoy!

Coach Sieverding, like many of us, grew up in small town Iowa. He played multiple sports for most of his high school career but always knew basketball was his jam. After high school he played at Marshalltown Community College before transferring to UNI for 3 years with the Panthers. We talked tons of great stories a out his time there as well as what's to come this Winter. Enjoy!

Coach Amsberry had a very unique story with multiple "rise to the top" moments. He joined a struggling Rockford College program that lost 70 straight games and turned them into a consistent above .500 team. Then did the same with an average team at Wartburg College and created a perennial power house. All from a guy who had really never thought about coaching! Bob was a great interview that we kno...

Brooks McKowen is a great friend of the podcast and a former AAU teammate, college teammate and college roommate of AV. He's the most prolific scorer in Iowa High School Basketball history and current head coach of Upper Iowa University. He was also on the UNI staff when they upset the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament in 2010. He has some great insights about that and coaching on the Divisio...

Michael Loney has a ton of connections to AV and BC. His first basket was made in BC's hometown of Algona! The pride of Humboldt Iowa, Michael went on to play college ball at South Dakota State. He then spent some time teaching and coaching before he created Freedom Hoops! Another great story with ties back to small town Iowa!