John Oertel

2016 NIACC hall of famer John Oertel

Coaching women’s basketball wasn’t originally in the plans for John Oertel.

And now the former state champion football coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie is going into the NIACC athletics hall of fame as a women’s basketball coach.

“I’m real happy just because of what the hall of fame means,” Oertel said. “It’s a very illustrious - the people that have been put in it already – Herb (Konigsmark), Dick (Ramsey), Jerry (Dunbar), Jennifer (Currier). They are people that I respect and am honored to be included with that bunch of people.

Oertel, who coached the NIACC women’s basketball team from 1984-2011, coached both of his daughters (Julia and Teresa) at NIACC and won over 400 games in the process.

“And now what’s really neat is to bring Anna (Deets) out here and work with her,” the Class of 2016 hall of famer said about his freshman granddaughter. “It’s almost gone full circle. I don’t think I’ll coach my great, great grandchildren, though.”

Julia (Oertel) Deets played for her dad and the Lady Trojans from 1992-94. Teresa was a Lady Trojan from 1997-99.

The two Oertel sisters rank second and third on the school’s career 3-point list. Julia ranks second with 115 career three-point goals and Teresa is third with 113 made 3-pointers.

“It was enjoyable,” Oertel said of coaching his daughters.

And becoming a women’s basketball coach wasn’t even in John Oertel’s plans when he was attending college, which included one year at NIACC where he played football and basketball in 1967-68.

Oertel, who coached Cedar Rapids Prairie to the Class 3A state football title in 1981, was still coaching football and wrestling at Prairie in 1984 when he received a call from NIACC football coach Jerry Dunbar about possibly joining the football coaching staff.

Dunbar also mentioned becoming the women’s basketball coach at NIACC, as well.

“What?,” Oertel said about his first response to Dunbar about being the women’s basketball coach. “But I talked with (Dr. Leonard Ranson), who was a very successful women’s basketball coach at Mount Mercy.

“We talked about coaching women and I decided to come back to Mason City. It’s something my family and Mary wanted to do. It just worked out.”

Oertel compiled a record of 444-375, which included a trip to the 1994 national tournament.

Oertel said he’s glad that he made the decision to leave Cedar Rapids and return to Mason City, where he grew up and attended high school, in the early 1980s.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “My family has got a lot of it.

“It’s nice to see it grow now. It’s nice to see Kelli (Terrell Greenway) and Todd (Ciochetto) take it to the next level. It’s nice to see NIACC basketball turn into a power. It’s good to know that I had a part of it.”

Terrell Greenway, who played for Oertel from 2003-05, also was an assistant coach under Oertel before taking over the program in the 2011-12 season.

“It was a unique opportunity for me to be able to return to NIACC to start my coaching career with Coach Oertel after playing for him just a few years earlier,” said (Terrell) Greenway, who is now an assistant women’s basketball coach at Grand View. “I had a learning mindset and tried to soak up any information possible as I highly respected him.

“So much of coaching is building relationships and the way that he exemplified that has always stuck with me.”

Oertel played a season of basketball under Konigsmark in 1967-68 and also played quarterback on the Trojans’ football team in 1967.

“It was basically just throw the ball as far as you can,” Oertel recalled about his days as the Trojans’ signal caller. “It was fun. Rich Koolbeck had an open mind toward offensive football.

“Of course, playing for Herb, you can imagine what that was like. We had some crazy guys and he was able to coach them.”

One of the lasting memories Oertel has during his time at NIACC is the NIACC/Waldorf rivalry, which came to an end after the 2002-03 season when Waldorf became a four-year school.

It was North Iowa’s version of North Carolina vs. Duke.

“That’s what it really was all about,” Oertel said. “On the nights when we played them, it was big time.

“It wasn’t us recruiting kids from Chicago, Minneapolis or out of the country. We were both recruiting kids from Buffalo Center, St. Ansgar and Ventura. It was North Iowa girls vs. North Iowa girls. We were recruiting the same kids.”

“You knew when that game was coming up.”

Even though Oertel admits that he misses parts of the college coaching life, he says he’s enjoying retirement life.

“It’s nice being able to talk about the program with Todd,” Oertel said. “It’s nice being able to work with Anna. I get the best of both worlds. I can still be a part of it in a small way.”