Jon McKowen got a very early start in coaching.

He was about 10 years old at the time, in just the fourth grade.

Jon's father, Marty, is the successful boys basketball coach at Wapsie Valley High School in Fairbank, and Jon quickly gravitated to the sport.

"He would go to practices and go to games, but then as I watched film and broke down film at home, he would watch with me and ask questions and talk about coaching and that kind of stuff," Marty McKowen said Tuesday.

That early start led McKowen to successful stints as the head coach at Northern University High School in Cedar Falls and Ottawa High School in Ottawa, Kan., and now he'll be bringing his passion and knowledge of the game to Cedar Rapids as Kennedy's new coach.

McKowen, 33, was named to the post Tuesday. He succeeds Bob Fontana, who is leaving Kennedy to become the head coach at new Centennial High School in Ankeny, his home town.

Marty McKowen has won more than 500 games as the Hall of Fame coach at Wapsie Valley, and Jon enjoyed learning the game at his father's side when he was growing up.

"My dad taught me the passion," McKowen said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Kansas. "It's something he loves to do, and it showed every single day.

"That's the reason I got into it, because I saw the passion that he put into it and how much he enjoyed it. I've come to feel the same way."

McKowen excelled in basketball, football and baseball at Wapsie Valley. His younger brother, Brooks, also starred for their father on the basketball court and is the all-time leading scorer in state history.

Jon McKowen has compiled a flashy 220-56 record in 11 years as a head coach. He went 91-32 in five years at NU High, was named the NICL Coach of the Year three times and led the team to a third-place finish in the 2006 state tournament.

McKowen did even better than that at Ottawa High School, fashioning a 129-24 record in six years with six straight trips to the Class 4A state tournament. The Cyclones were the state runnerup in 2010, 2011 and 2012 before reaching the top this season with a perfect 25-0 mark and the state title.

Family and friends knew he was interested in returning to Iowa and kept him posted about possible job openings. He jumped at the chance to become the new coach at Kennedy.

"I'm very fortunate. Very fortunate and excited," he said. "It's humbling. We're excited to get started."

McKowen said he'll evaluate the talent at Kennedy and build a team that fits the players, rather than trying to force players into a pre-determined system. He said he's done that every year, remodeling the team on a regular basis.

"If you'd seen the game films from each of the 11 years, you'd swear it was a different coach every year," he said.

"The first thing I'm going to do this summer is try and figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the players, obviously working on the weaknesses," he said.

Kennedy finished with an 11-10 record this season.

McKowen has coached basketball, baseball, football and track in high school, not knowing which sport he might enjoy coaching the most, but it became obvious in a hurry.

"After doing all those, there was no doubt it was basketball," he said. "That's where my passion is, I think that's where my greatest knowledge is."

He said he's enjoyed all of his years as a basketball coach.

"At no point did I ever want the season to be over," he said. "That's how I knew that's what I wanted to do every day."

McKowen will teach physical education and health at Kennedy. He and his wife, Jody, have three children: Krey, 6; Drew, 2, and Cade, 10 months.

McKowen's mother, Marti, works in Cedar Rapids and commutes to town on a daily basis. She'll get to see the grandkids a lot more often now.

"We're all excited," Marty McKowen said.

The McKowens coached against each other when Jon was at NU High. Marty McKowen said he's interested in arranging games between Wapsie Valley and Kennedy.

"I would like to set that up sometime," he said. "I could definitely see that happening."