‘I’m in awe of it all’: Coach Joe Auer celebrates special week at Wichita Heights
It’s been a special week for Wichita Heights boys basketball coach Joe Auer.
On Tuesday, Auer celebrated his 700th total win as a head coach at Heights, which included 282 wins in 19 seasons as the school’s baseball coach and 418 (and counting) wins as the boys basketball coach. On Friday, Auer helped celebrate a historic 2010-11 school year at Heights, which featured five Class 6A state championships from the football, boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling and boys bowling teams.
Notable alumni such as Evan Wessel and Dreamius Smith were on hand to represent the 2010-11 Heights team, which also starred Perry Ellis and Terrence Moore, that finished a perfect 25-0 season and climbed as high as No. 5 in the national USA Today rankings. The football and girls basketball teams also finished their state championship runs with perfect records.
After the current Heights boys team improved to 14-2 this season with a 66-42 win over Wichita South on Friday, Auer spent some time reflecting on the memorable week.
“You can’t do something like this for this long unless you’re able to teach and coach in the moment and I’ve been blessed to be able to do that and have so many interesting kids over the years,” Auer said. “As I’m looking back on it and reflecting, it’s amazing how many kids and personalities that I’ve been able to learn from over the years and change with the times. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and have new coaching relationships and change with the times. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Auer may have tweaked the way he’s done certain things over the years, but the winning has stayed the same.
He never had a losing season as a baseball coach and retired as the all-time wins leader in City League history, then outside of his first two seasons at Heights, he’s only had one losing season in the 25 years since and passed Carl Taylor as the City League’s all-time wins leader. Auer, who started coaching boys basketball in the 1995-96 season, has averaged more than 15 wins per seasons in his 46 total seasons as head coach.
“When you put it like that, I think I should be more tired than I am,” Auer said with a laugh. “That’s a lot of seasons where we’ve had good years.”
The wins are nice, but also not the main motivation for sticking around. Auer still loves the daily challenge of getting better as a team and piecing together the puzzle pieces and personalities that each season’s team brings.
“You obviously don’t coach for things like this, but I’ve been blessed to be at a place where we’ve had great players and great support,” Auer said. “It’s hard to believe, looking back at it. My appreciation for my time at Heights and all of the incredible experiences I’ve had, I’m just in awe of it all. It was definitely not my intent to be at one place my entire career, but this is a special place and to be a part of 700 wins is something I’ll cherish forever and hopefully there’s more to come.”
There are certainly more wins coming this season, as Wichita Heights has only lost to Class 5A’s No. 1-ranked team, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, this season and is currently ranked No. 3 in the Class 6A rankings.
In Friday’s win over South, Marcus Zeigler and T.J. Williams led the way with 16 points each with Chase Harris adding 13 points and Dreylin Kemp chipping in seven points and eight rebounds. The Falcons are currently the top-ranked defense in Class 6A.
“That’s what will give this tem a chance to be successful in March,” Auer said. “We’re going to be one of the top teams heading into the postseason and we’ve got a chance. We’re all looking forward to that and it’s hard to believe there’s only two more weeks of the regular season and then March Madness begins. The way we defend and the way we prioritize making it tough to score, I think is going to give us a good chance.”
Kansas high school basketball scores for February 11
Boys
City League
Bishop Carroll 60, Wichita West 52
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 65, Wichita East 43
Wichita Heights 66, Wichita South 42
Wichita Southeast 65, Wichita Northwest 59
AV-CTL
Andale 57, Wellington 33
Andover Central 41, Andover 40
Augusta 63, Winfield 37
Buhler 59, Circle 53
Derby 72, Salina South 53
El Dorado 74, McPherson 59
Hutchinson 65, Arkansas City 35
Maize 65, Campus 57
Maize South 73, Newton 31
Rose Hill 72, Mulvane 61
Salina Central 66, Goddard 33
Valley Center 70, Goddard Eisenhower 62
Wichita Collegiate 46, Clearwater 43
Other area
Attica 47, Norwich 42
Bennington 48, Berean Academy 44
Caldwell 63, West Elk 46
Chaparral 67, Kingman 52
Cheney 71, Garden Plain 23
Conway Springs 56, Belle Plaine 41
Haven 61, Lyons 42
Hesston 63, Hillsboro 62
Hutchinson Central Christian 69, South Barber 52
Inman 85, Marion 15
Larned 57, Halstead 47
Pratt 53, Hoisington 47
Sedan 61, Erie 40
Sedgwick 49, Ell-Saline 28
Smoky Valley 73, Nickerson 45
Stafford 81, Burrton 58
Wichita Independent 66, Medicine Lodge 51 (Thursday)
Wichita Independent 42, Wichita Trinity Academy 27
Girls
City League
Bishop Carroll 69, Wichita West 26
Wichita East 54, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 52
Wichita Heights 61, Wichita South 36
Wichita Southeast 50, Wichita Northwest 22
AV-CTL
Andover Central 61, Andover 46
Circle 37, Buhler 24
Clearwater 62, Wichita Collegiate 32
Derby 53, Salina South 27
Goddard Eisenhower 37, Valley Center 34
Hutchinson 55, Arkansas City 14
Maize 50, Campus 34
Maize South 47, Newton 19
McPherson 61, El Dorado 17
Mulvane 45, Rose Hill 22
Salina Central 58, Goddard 40
Wellington 46, Andale 34
Winfield 53, Augusta 46
Other area
Berean Academy 59, Bennington 26
Cheney 49, Garden Plain 24
Ell-Saline 47, Sedgwick 19
Eureka 52, Bluestem 31
Halstead 44, Larned 38
Haven 58, Lyons 36
Herington 48, Goessel 28
Hesston 49, Hillsboro 38
Hoisington 40, Pratt 33
Inman 50, Marion 45
Kingman 61, Chaparral 31
Nickerson 69, Smoky Valley 61
Remington 47, Moundridge 38
Sterling 63, Hutchinson Trinity 26
West Elk 67, Caldwell 15
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