Wester reflects on coaching Thunderbirds
By Greg Seubert
Coaching vacancies – especially in girls’ varsity basketball – don’t come up very often in the Iola-Scandinavia School District.
Mark Wester, who coached the Thunderbirds to seven Central Wisconsin Conference championships and a trip to state in his 23 seasons, stepped down in February after the 2018-19 season ended.
He is only the third coach in the program’s 53-year history. Judy Morey compiled a 306-76 record in her 25 seasons that included a WIAA Class C state championship in 1978. Sara Anderson coached the team for the next five seasons before Wester replaced her after she became principal at Weyauwega-Fremont High School.
Early success
Wester, a second-grade teacher at Iola-Scandinavia Elementary School, spent his first season in Iola coaching the girls’ junior varsity basketball team.
It didn’t take his team’s long to find success. The first of seven CWC-Small championships came in 1998 and others followed in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
His teams also finished undefeated in conference play in 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2002-03 and 2005-06.
“We had a tremendous amount of success,” Wester said. “We were always the strongest team with probably the biggest numbers and the most depth.”
The 1999-2000 team made it to state in Division 4, but saw its 25-1 season end with a 73-48 loss to eventual champion Flambeau in a state semifinal.
That team included Rebecca Remington, who eventually became the T-Birds’ all-time leading scorer with 1,372 points.
“That was definitely a special situation, like it would be in any year with any team,” Wester said. “Our community’s been fortunate to have some of those experiences even recently with our football team. I grew up in a community where that never happened. We made it to a sectional semifinal once with our boys’ team when I was in eighth grade and I remember what a big deal that was.”
Remington went on to receive a Division 1 scholarship to Murray State University in Kentucky, where she played from 2001-05.
“She was a tremendous player,” Wester said. “She wanted to do her work where nobody could see it happening and she just kept getting better and better. Sometimes, that was in her driveway. She’d show up for the season and you knew she had improved and had put the time in.”
Family affair
The long list of athletes to suit up on Wester’s teams included his daughter, Payton, now a senior.
“That’s one of the reasons I stuck around a little bit longer,” he said. “Basketball maybe wasn’t Payton’s best sport, but she committed herself to it and was a good leader. It was great to be able to spend all that time with her.”
Wester also coached his son Brock’s elementary and middle school basketball teams. Brock is a freshman at the high school and Wester made it to only a handful of his basketball games this season.
“To sit in the stands and watch my son will be fun, but it’ll be different,” he said.
Wester also has the support of his wife, Stacey, principal at Iola-Scandinavia Elementary School.
“She was a coach, she was a player,” he said. “She’s been able to understand what’s kind of been a hobby of mine. Instead of golfing or fishing, mine is coaching basketball.”
A changing game
Wester has noticed how the game of high school basketball has changed over the years.
“The girls’ game in particular has changed,” he said. “There are some really great coaches that help develop players. A lot of the athletes are better because weight lifting and speed training are such a prominent part of everybody’s program.
“It’s a money thing now, whether it’s getting a personal trainer, skill coach or whatever,” he said. “There are people out there throwing that you and there are people looking for a quick fix. You hope that people realize the lessons learned through these activities are going to carry through for a lifetime. It doesn’t always mean you’re going to get a scholarship. You’re part of a team, you’re working hard, you’re staying committed, you’re learning a lot through the losses and wins. I think we lose perspective sometimes on what it’s really about.”
Final stretch
The T-Birds won what turned out to be Wester’s final home game, a 54-41 decision over Menominee Indian Feb. 22 in the first round of the state tournament. The run ended two days later with a 69-37 loss at Bonduel.
Wester had a feeling it was his final season.
“I wasn’t even really thinking about it,” he said. “This whole season, I tried my best to focus in on coaching it like I would any other season. I didn’t want to be thinking about, ‘We’ll is this going to be my last game, is this going to be my last season?’ I just wanted to take each minute or day or practice or game one at a time throughout the year. I really felt good about being committed to this season.
“I don’t know when the right time is, but with my daughter graduating and my son being in high school, it made sense,” he said. “Ten years ago, I could have said, ‘Well, I’ve had enough of this,’ but at that time, it never really crossed my mind because I was enjoying it.”