Former Belle, Vienna basketball coach takes similar job at Russellville

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 4/29/20

If one wanted to say that now former Vienna head boys basketball coach Greg Koetting was a traveling man, they’d be correct.

Serving as a head boys or girls basketball coach at four other …

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Former Belle, Vienna basketball coach takes similar job at Russellville

Posted

If one wanted to say that now former Vienna head boys basketball coach Greg Koetting was a traveling man, they’d be correct.

Serving as a head boys or girls basketball coach at four other schools prior to coming to Vienna, Koetting will add to his growing list of employers after recently accepting the head boys basketball coaching position in Cole County at Russellville High School.

Before he trading in his black and gold for blue and white, Koetting led the Eagles to an 11-13 overall record in addition to a 4-1 mark in the Gasconade Valley Conference  (GVC) good for second place behind Steelville.

Starting his coaching career back in the late 1970s, Koetting was a boys assistant coach at Moberly (79-80), Sedalia Smith-Cotton (80-84), Washington (87-88) and at Blair Oaks as a girls assistant coach (10-13).

Koetting’s first head-coaching job was at Windsor from 1985-87.

His next head-coaching gig came in the early 2000s at El Dorado Springs from 2003-2005.

Venturing into Maries County three years later, he was named the head girls basketball coach at Belle High School from 2008-10.

Following a three-year stint as an a girls assistant at Blair Oaks, Koetting returned to the boy’s side of the ledger to Osage County as head boys basketball coach of the Linn Wildcats from 2013-16.

Following another two-year hiatus from coaching, he spent the last three years as Vienna’s head boys basketball coach.

Two of his former players commented on their favorite memories under Koetting.

Tyler Collins was the lone senior for last winter’s Eagle squad.

His memory was fittingly enough from senior-night action against Bourbon’s Warhawks.

“By far the best memory was after we won our final home game against Bourbon,” Collins said. “It was an intense game from the start. After the game, he had so much praise for me. Coach Koetting is an awesome coach who keeps it real and tells you what you need to work on to get better at.”

One of four juniors on Koetting’s final Eagle squad, Layne Hogshooter added to Collins’ memory of the Bourbon game.

“One of my favorite memories with Koetting was winning the (Battle of) Maries County game along with the win against Bourbon,” Hogshooter said.