Iola High basketball coach Bill Peeper steps down

After 19 years of coaching high school basketball, Iola High’s Bill Peeper is retiring. Peeper has coached the past five seasons at Iola High School.
“It goes by quickly. Amazingly so, it seems like,” Peeper said. “I know that a whole lot of guys coach longer than I did, even a lot of folks around here. But, it’s amazing how fast it flies by.”
Peeper’s coaching career covered three schools. He started out in Waukomis, Okla., in 1996 and was there for four seasons. The team’s record was 9-11 in his first season and 17-7 when he left.
In 2000, he moved to Syracuse, Kan., to be an assistant coach for another four years. He took over as their head coach in 2004. In his first season as head coach the team went 19-4 and in his last season the team was 18-5. During his tenure at Syracuse, the team finished third in the state tournament and reached state four times.
In 2010, he came to Iola. The team was 1-20 in his first season. The next year, the team improved to 9-12, took second in the Burlington Tournament and finished in second place at the Bulldog/Wildcat Classic. His best season at Iola was in 2013-14, when the team reached the state tournament and finished 10-13.
“It was a big deal to get to the state tournament here and do something that hadn’t been done in a long time,” Peeper said. “I’ve been pretty fortunate over the years to have some great teams. That was the fifth time as a head coach we made a state tournament. One of those times, we finished third. I leave having not won a state title, that’s everybody’s goal. But, I feel about as close as most people get.”
Peeper’s final coaching record is 192-145.
“It’s not about the numbers. I’m a year away from coaching 20 years and eight wins away from 200,” Peeper said. “If it was just wins, I would keep at it. But, it’s not about that. For me it doesn’t matter.”
Peeper said his mother wondered why he decided to retire.
“She said, ‘How close are you to 200 again?’ and I told her it’s not about that,” Peeper said.
Peeper listed a number of reasons for his decision to retire.
“It takes a lot of time and it’s a big investment of energy, time away from other things,” Peeper said. “For me, it’s been a while coming. This wasn’t something that just happens overnight, where I wake up and think, ‘Hey, I think I’m done coaching.’ For me, it was an ongoing process, and certainly, in my mind the time has come to move on without coaching. It’s time to take a different perspective on things and just teach.”
Peeper teaches history.
There is one regret Peeper has about his time as Iola’s coach.
“At each place, we followed a similar pattern and got a little better and better,” Peeper said. “By year three or four, we’re starting to peak. But here, for whatever reason, it was a little bit harder to sustain. I do leave somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t able to do more with the program here and get it on more stable footing.”
Peeper and his family are staying in Iola. They have enjoyed their time here and have no plans on leaving.
“One of the things I made clear to the kids is that I’m not bailing on them and looking for a new job somewhere, or a better situation, it’s none of that at all,” Peeper said. “This is not a stepping stone. I’m just done coaching basketball. It’s not like I’m seeking something bigger and better, I’m not looking at all.”
One thing that Peeper wanted to make clear is that this is his decision alone.
“I wasn’t being leveraged out or anything like that, none of these things occurred,” Peeper said. “It’s just me deciding to give something else more time and attention.”
Peeper also plans on spending more time with his family. He and his wife Autumn have two children, BreAnna, 11, and Mason, 7.
His memories are filled with basketball games, but getting to know the hundreds of kids that he coached is what he will remember the most. One of the athletes from Syracuse ended up at American University to play basketball — a Division I school. Another athlete earned a Silver Star in Afghanistan.
“Some of the guys that I coached 18 or 19 years ago have sent me pictures of them with their wives and families and talk about things they remember,” Peeper said. “There’s just so much to coaching. I take so much pride in coaching but it doesn’t have anything to do with basketball.”