Kee baseball coach Gene Schultz named NHSCA Coach of the Year

The National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) based in Easton, PA recently announced that Kee High School baseball coach Gene Schultz is among the organization's selections as National High School Coaches of the Year for 2012.
This year marks the 13th year the NHSCA has honored these achievers in high school coaching on a nationwide basis. This year’s recipients, selected in a total of 20 boys and girls sports, are from 19 different states.
“The coaches we are honoring today are outstanding examples for successful high school coaches in their sports,” NHSCA executive director Bob Ferraro, Jr. said. “They place a high value on the teamwork skills their players learn for success in the classroom and on the field, and we are proud to be honoring them.”
At age 65, Schultz is the nation’s all-time leader in high school baseball coaching victories with a 1,675-353-1 record as of the announcement of his national honoring, with this final week of the regular season and postseason tournament play lying ahead for Schultz and his Hawks yet this year. He is in his 43rd season at the helm of the Kee baseball program.
A native of Winona, MN, Schultz's credentials listed by the NHSCA include being an All-State football and basketball player in high school who turned down a $2,000 bonus offer from the Washington Senators to, instead, attend college, eventually graduating from Winona State University.
Schultz inherited just a 10-game baseball schedule when he came to Kee High School in 1969, which he quickly expanded to a 40-game slate. Schultz guided the baseball Hawks to the first of Kee's now 11 state titles in 1973. That team, which finished 47-0, is one of just 10 Iowa teams to complete an unbeaten season. Schultz is also one of just four Iowa coaches to lead four consecutive state title teams (1989-92), a run that included a 59-game winning streak.
His teams also won summer state titles in 1980, 1981, 1986 and 2005 and fall titles in 1977 and 1978, and also finished second in state nine times, most recently last summer. Last year's runner-up finish earned Schultz Class 1A Northeast District Coach of the Year honors from the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2006. The National Federation of State High School Associations honored him as its National Coach of the Year in 2003.

Founded in 1989, the National High School Coaches Association is a not-for-profit 501c3 service organization providing support and leadership programs for the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches and 10 million high school athletes. The NHSCA continues its involvement in high-profile high school sports events across the board. The NHSCA selects Coaches and Senior Athletes of the Year in 20 boys and girls sports, and sponsors more than two dozen national championship events in 11 sports.