Metro Sports Report

National honor for Breitbach as Warner's favorite teacher

Dick Breitbach’s wife Kitty says you can throw out the name of a former student, and the long-time high school coach and teacher will tell you what year the kid graduated. He doesn’t forget them.

They don’t forget him either. This year his most well-known graduate, former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, singled him out for special recognition when he named him as his favorite teacher. Warner was one of four celebrities asked by the non-profit organization TeachersCount to choose his most influential teacher for a program called “Behind Every
Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher.”

Iowa offers Washpun a scholarship

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Wes Washpun confirmed Thursday morning that University of Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery has offered him a scholarship to play basketball for the Hawkeyes next season.

"They actually offered a couple of nights ago," he said.

Washpun said he has not decided whether to accept the offer or not. "No, I haven't," he remarked. "Not yet."

Washpun has an appointment to meet with McCaffery tonight in Iowa City.

Washpun said new Tennessee Coach Cuonza Martin has not offered a scholarship at this time. "Not as of now," he said.

Martin offered Washpun a scholarship this winter when Martin was still the head coach at Missouri State. Paul Lusk, the new coach at Missouri State, has extended an offer to Washpun as well.

The spring period for signing national letters-of-intent begins Wednesday, April 13.

Washpun is a 6-foot-1 point guard who averaged 18 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.4 steals and 2.1 blocked shots for the Warriors this past season.

Spring has sprung and it's time to talk ... football

I know it is spring. The temperatures are steadily climbing, the birds are starting to sing and the grass is beginning its annual turn from doormat brown to green. We should be thinking of track, soccer, golf, tennis and everything associated with the warming of Mother Earth ... but I'm going to take a moment to talk some football.
 
We have a pair of exciting pieces of news for the upcoming football season that should whet the appetites of people for the pigskin flying through the air and the smell of barbecue lofting through parking lots; the announcement of a new coach at Prairie and the birth of a new program in the Metro area.
 
It has been a long and, I'm sure, arduous process for Prairie Athletic Director Rocky Bennett to find the right fit for the Hawk football program and fill the large shoes of former head man Craig Jelinek. Bennett stayed his course and in the end made, what I believe, is a terrific choice in Mike Morrissey.

Morrissey fills all the criteria you are looking for in a new coach. He's young, has experience both in the college and high school ranks and has grown up around the sport. He was a former quarterback in both high school and college and knows the game as a quarterback only can. His dad was a tremendous coach at Pleasant Valley High School in the Quad Cities at a school very similar to Prairie in both size and tradition.

Little Josh Evans runs big for Linn-Mar

IOWA CITY -- Linn-Mar freshman Josh Evans is 5-foot-5 and 105 pounds of talent and determination.

"I didn't know he was that heavy!" Linn-Mar Coach Ken Hopkins said Tuesday with a hearty laugh.

He ain't heavy, but he can run.

Evans captured the 3200-meter run at the Hollingsworth Relays in 9:59.51 to beat Isaac Jensen of Iowa City West by four seconds in a good race at the Iowa City West track.

"It was hard," Evans said. "The wind was a little tough."