Wachs says goodbye to head coaching position

WINFIELD — The sidelines are going to look a lot different at Winfield-Mount Union next basketball season. Longtime girls coach Mitch Wachs has decided to step down at the helm for the Lady Wolves after 30 years.

“I just knew it was the right time,” Wachs said. “I’ve always loved the kids and I love doing what I do, and after 30 years, I could just feel the time was right.”

Wachs came to Winfield-Mount Union in 1992 and struck gold early. The Lady Wolves made the state semifinals for four straight years, from 1995-1998, and won back-to-back championships in 95-96. At one point during that stretch, the Wolves won 80 games in a row.

Over the years, Wachs’s teams have had a few shots to get back to the state tournament. The Wolves made the regional semifinals in 2021 and 2022, and should be among the favorites in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division next season, but Wachs says he’s OK letting someone new give it a go.

“When you stick around a place this size for this long, there’s going to be some ups and downs,” Wachs said. “That never weighed anything on my decisions throughout the year. I had kids that were as close to me and that I was as fond as ever of on 5-17 teams.”

Wachs finishes his head coaching career with a record of 412-288. He hit the 400 win mark this season on a team that finished the year 19-5.

Wachs says the passion of everyday practice never wavered, but that all the extra work in the summers and late at night became tiresome in recent years. He says his goal is to help out with the junior high teams and let somebody else shoulder some of the responsibilities he lost the love for.

“The things I’ve always loved, I didn’t love like I used to,” Wachs said. “That just wasn’t fair.”

Wachs has been coaching girls basketball since he moved into the WMU community. He says recently he finally started to feel the weight of it on his shoulders.

“I’ve poured my whole life into this, really,” Wachs said. “I didn’t have much else besides teaching and coaching until the last few years. That wears on a guy.”

Wachs says being the girls basketball coach has been his “identity” since he first started.

“The lifelong bonds with players and parents and different people in the community will last forever,” Wachs said. “It has meant the world to me.”

Wachs gave thanks to former assistant coach Dave Therme and current assistant coach Scott McCarty, his only assistants in his 30 years of coaching. He also says former teachers John Siegle and Paul Wilkerson were great mentors to him along the way.

When the winter rolls back around, WMU will return four of its five starters and all but two players in total from a squad that finished second in the SEISC South Division this year. Wachs says leaving plenty of talent for the new coach is the way to do it.

“It’s the perfect way to go out,” Wachs said. “They’ll be good next year, and have a chance to go far, and I’ll be nothing but supportive for whoever comes in.”