By LARRY MORITZ
Salina Journal
During his 35 years of coaching basketball, Denny Wahlgren's love for the game never wavered.
That made his decision this week all the more difficult.
Wahlgren has announced he will not return as Salina South boys basketball coach for the 2007-08 season, instead stepping aside to pursue a job opportunity outside the Salina school district.
"Coaching has been my life," Wahlgren said. "It's something I love to do and it's been a passion for me, so it's not easy just to suddenly step away from it.
"I don't know how much I'm going to miss coaching, but it's been in my blood a long time."
Those 35 years as a basketball coach include the last 16 seasons at South High, where he compiled a 194-157 record. Wahlgren has more wins than any other coach in the program's 37-year history and his teams made five state tournament appearances.
The timing of his decision made it nearly impossible for Wahlgren to call a team meeting and break the news to his players. He phoned his assistant coaches and in a letter mailed Wednesday to his players and their parents, Wahlgren explained his decision as follows:
" ... with my current retirement status, the state of Kansas places limitations on how much money I can earn from this school district.
"Financially it is impossible for me to just coach basketball. A lot of time was spent this summer trying to find a job that would allow me to continue coaching and still be able to provide financial support to my family."
Wahlgren, 59, resigned as a full-time teacher for the Salina school district following the 2005-06 school year, then worked part time last year teaching math in the performance based diploma area at South. Because he is receiving benefits from the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Wahlgren is not allowed to make more than $20,000 a year from the Salina district.
Wahlgren declined to discuss what his new job opportunity entails.
"I've been looking to try to find something I enjoy doing, but would still allow me the opportunity to keep coaching," Wahlgren said. "A job with the right time frame just has not developed.
"It's not like I've reached a point where I'm ready to be done with coaching. But I've still got bills to pay and no one is knocking on the door saying 'Here's some money to live on -- go ahead and keep doing what you enjoy doing.'¬"
Coaching is something Wahlgren always enjoyed doing, and he did it on a number of different levels.
Wahlgren, who was awarded the Bethany College Alumni Award of Merit for Distinguished Service in 2005, began his coaching career shortly after graduating from Bethany in 1971.
He spent four seasons at Washington High School, the last three as the boys head coach. Wahlgren then coached a single season at Santa Fe Trail before accepting a grad assistant position with Ted Owens and the University of Kansas men's basketball team.
After earning his masters degree in his one year at KU, Wahlgren accepted a teaching position in the Salina school district and was named head coach of the Central boys team prior to the 1977-78 season.
The Mustangs reached the 5A state title game in 1981 before falling to Greg Dreiling and Wichita Kapaun. but the most memorable season came in 1983 when Wahlgren's team finished the year 11-13. Central became the first and only team to capture a state title with a sub-.500 record, winning each of their five postseason games by three points or less.
"There are a lot of people around Salina that aren't aware that I coached at Central," Wahlgren said. "For people that know Kansas basketball, that season was pretty memorable, seeing how nobody before or since has achieved that distinction."
After nine years at Central, Wahlgren took his only break from coaching -- and it lasted one year. He then was offered the head coaching job at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., taking over the program in its first year of existence.
Family concerns brought him back to Salina the following year and he accepted the men's basketball coaching position at Kansas Wesleyan University in 1988.
When former coach Phil Anderson left the South boys position early in the 1991-92 school year, the Cougars asked Wahlgren to return to the high school level.
"He's a guy that was extremely organized and dedicated to what he did," said former South athletic director Gregg Gordon, who worked with Wahlgren for 16 years. "He knew basketball inside and out, was a tremendous X's and O's man and got as much out of his players as anybody around.
"That was one of the reasons we went to Denny when Phil Anderson left us. We knew what he could do and knew he could use that ability to get the most out of our high school athletes. History has proven that to be a correct statement."
In addition to the five state tournament appearances, Wahlgren's teams went 10 consecutive years without a losing record starting in 1997. That streak ended when his team finished 2-19 this past winter.
His team's averaged 16 wins a year from 1998 through 2005. His 1999-2000 team won a school record 18 regular season games and went undefeated in the I-70 League at 10-0.
While at South Wahlgren also had the opportunity to coach both of his sons -- Chad (a 1997 graduate) and Brett (2001) -- and watch his daughter Leah (1999) earn all-state recognition with the Cougar girls.
"I'm very proud of our three kids and what they accomplished at South," said Wahlgren, whose wife Jeanie is a teacher at Sunset Elementary. "Both academically and athletically it was a very positive experience for our kids. They gained immensely in many ways."
South principal Myron Graber said he was disappointed to learn of Wahlgren's decision. Graber's son Zack was a starting point guard for South during the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
"He's one of the best high school coaches in the state of Kansas in my opinion," Graber said. "He gave 16 great years to South High and he will be missed. I'm sorry to see him go but it was a pleasure to have him coach my son, and I'm sure there are many others that feel the same way."
Wahlgren knows there were several factors that contributed to his teams' success over the years, including working with some talented young athletes.
"The parental support toward my family and me while I was at South has been super," Wahlgren said. "They would do whatever they could do to help the program out.
"I also appreciate all my assistants and the time they've put in to support me and back me. The head coach can only be as successful as the coaches working under him."
With the start of the school year less than two weeks away, South administrators are left with little time to find Wahlgren's replacement.
"We'll wait until his resignation is officially accepted by the board and then do an advertisement," Graber said. "Given the time frame we're in, we don't have any teaching positions left to fill. I think we do have a couple of qualified candidates in house that will get a strong look.
"I don't want to drag it out too long, but we do want to do what's best for the kids at South High and for our program."
©Salina Journal