Coaches — Episodes — The Moonlight Graham Show

Mitch Osborn

Every Iowa sports fan knows the reputation of Harlan Community High School. The Harlan Cyclones are known far and wide for their success in every sport. Coach Bladt and the football program built a foundation of success that the entire community rests on. There is a lot of pride in the school colors and full bleachers whenever they take the field or court. Mitch Osborn has helped to continue that success in his roles as AD and head basketball coach. This week we sit down with Coach Osborn to learn about his career and what makes Harlan so darn special.

Coaches, BasketballTim FlatteryJanuary 24, 202313Comment

Mike Szalat - Making Cross Country Fun for over 20 years!

Sports are about so much more than wins and losses. At the same time, though, sports aren’t nearly as fun if you don’t care about wins and losses. At the middle school and high school level, more than anything else, sports are about learning life lessons and building relationships. It takes a special kind of coach to be able to balance the drive to develop young people and develop competitors. Mike Szalat is one of those people. Over the last 20+ years, few people have put more hours into the students and athletes at St. Edmond in Fort Dodge.

CoachesTim FlatteryNovember 15, 202213Comment

Matt Buschmann - Blue Jays Bullpen Coach

Every once in a while, a Moonlighter just falls into your lap. Matt Buschmann connected to the podcast on Twitter, and, as it turns out, he was just the kind of story we are looking for. Matt Buschmann is a 10-year minor league baseball veteran who made three appearances in the Majors. When his playing days were done, he became the bullpen coach for the Toronto Blue Jays. Buschmann has the kind of story diehard baseball fan loves to hear, and he came to the right place to tell it.

Baseball, Coaches, PitchersTim FlatterySeptember 14, 202212Comment

Eric Stein

This week’s Moonlighter goes way back with Moonlight Tim. Eric Stein was a sophomore leader for the Iowa Central Tritons when Tim joined the team as a freshman. Even as a 19-year-old, Eric Stein’s baseball IQ made it clear that his future was in coaching if he wanted it. Roughly 18 years after that first meeting, Tim sits down with Eric to talk about Stein’s progression from player to head coach for those same Tritons.

Coaches, BaseballTim FlatteryJuly 26, 202212Comment

Marty Sutherland

There are few roles more important than that of coach. Part mentor, part cheerleader, part teacher part disciplinarian, and sometimes even part father or mother figure. This week’s Moonlighter fits those descriptors to a T. Marty Sutherland has spent most of his life in sports and played a prominent role in the lives of countless young men.

Baseball, Hawkeyes, CoachesTim FlatteryJuly 12, 202212Comment

Adam Fellers

One thing that we love about sports is the way that no matter how old we get, sports stay the same. Depending on where we are in our lives, we can be the athlete, the fan, the coach, or even the dad. This week’s Moonlighter has a perspective on wrestling from every angle. The former high school and D1 wrestler now wears the hats of coach and dad. Adam Fellers has seen it all and has a take on just about everything.

Wrestling, Coaches, HawkeyesTim FlatteryJuly 6, 202212Comment

Brooks McKowen

All-time leading scorer and role player don’t really fit in the same sentence. But in the case of this week’s Moonlighter, they are both a part of his story. Brooks McKowen graduated high school having set a new standard for Iowa high school basketball players. While at UNI he became a new player. When he hung up the sneakers, he found another role holding a clipboard. No matter what role he takes on, Brooks McKowen continues to find success on the basketball court.

Basketball, Coaches, PanthersTim FlatteryJune 28, 202212Comment

Coach Dick Tighe

In his 60+ years as a high school football coach, Dick Tighe has seen just about everything. And he remembers just about all of it. This week Tim and Tom get to sit down with their former coach to hear about one of the winningest high school football coaching careers in history.

Coaches, FootballTim FlatteryAugust 24, 202111Comment

Randy Rahe

Our Moonlighter this week went from a small town to the Big Sky. Randy Rahe is a four-time Big Sky Conference coach of the year at Weber State University. He has 5 conference titles and has won 63% of his games. While he is one of the top mid-major coaches in the country right now, he graduated from tiny, and now closed, Bancroft St. John’s. Rahe was a two-sport star for the Johnnies and went on to play both baseball and basketball at Buena Vista. When his playing days were done he traded his jump shot for a clipboard and fast breaks for walking the sideline.

Basketball, CoachesTim FlatteryJuly 27, 202111Comment

Joel Osborn

This week’s Moonlighter just knows how to win. Heck, Harlan just about had to add gold to its school colors during his senior year. The winning didn’t stop with his high school graduation though. His experiences as a high school player and college athlete prepared him for helping lead a perennial D-II football power. After a decade as an assistant, he has taken the reins of his own football program and Joel Osborn is looking to keep the Ws coming.

Football, CoachesTim FlatteryFebruary 9, 202110Comment

Coach Joe Woodley

There is always a lot of talk about coaching trees, especially when it comes to college football. In Iowa, we often hear about Hayden Fry’s incredible legacy with his 1980s Hawkeye football coaching staffs but those guys all had different last names. The Woodley Tree is pretty much synonymous with coaching in Iowa as Mike and his sons have led programs in central and eastern Iowa with a great deal of success. One of those Woodley boys invited Tim into the Grand View football offices recently to talk about a life in coaching.

Football, CoachesTim FlatteryJanuary 5, 202110Comment

Steve Loney - 50 Years of Football

Season 10 opens with a guy who has a story or two to tell. Over the course of 45 years Steve Loney has seen just about everything at every level of football and always comes home to his passion for Iowa State football. Loney brings some of his favorite stories and insights from the sideline and to the Moonlight Graham Show.

Football, Cyclones, CoachesTim FlatteryDecember 31, 202010Comment

Nick Nurse

This week’s Moonlighter started his career in Iowa, circled the globe, and ended up on top of the world. Nick Nurse played in the red and gold of the Kuemper Knights but more recently has been sporting the gold of his NBA championship ring as head coach of the Toronto Raptors. His journey to the top of the basketball world included stops around the US and Europe before arriving in Canada. No matter how far he travels, Nick Nurse is an Iowan that the whole state is proud to claim.

Basketball, CoachesTim FlatteryNovember 3, 20209Comment

Chicago Bulls Assistant Nate Loenser

Coaches, Baseball, CyclonesTim FlatteryJune 2, 20208Comment

Ep 122: UNI Panther Wrestling Coach Doug Schwab

Coaches, Panthers, WrestlingTim FlatteryOctober 16, 20197Comment

Ep 118: Mike Hill on his journey from Fort Dodger to D1 Strength & Conditioning Coach

CoachesTim FlatterySeptember 24, 2019Comment

Ep 101: Dan Gable on preparation, toughness, and the importance of his parents

Winning is great. Winning a lot is impressive. Winning championships makes it so people know your name. But very few people reach a level of success such that their name becomes synonymous with dominance in a sport. Dan Gable is wrestling in Iowa. Gable’s name is so closely intertwined with wrestling that we often see grapplers named Gable; notably, #2 heavyweight Gable Stevenson of Minnesota looks to cap his dominant freshman season with a national title this week. In episode 101, Tim converses with a living legend of the sport.

Cyclones, Coaches, Hawkeyes, WrestlingTim FlatteryMarch 19, 2019Comment

Ep 91: A league of his own - Coach Rick Pederson

Coaches, BaseballTim FlatteryJanuary 15, 2019

Ep 84: The truth about Aaron Hernandez

Hawkeyes, Football, Coaches, WritersTim FlatteryNovember 27, 2018Comment

Ep 72: Iowa's Coach K - Adolph Kochendorfer

Basketball, CoachesTim FlatteryAugust 7, 2018Adolph Kochendorfer, St. Edmond, Fort Dodge, Iowa Comment