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By RICK PETERSON 
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in 14 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. Readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 15, with the Top 10 in all categories announced in July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best Men's Basketball Coach click on https://linkto.run/p/2CHKQYK7 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Who is the greatest men's basketball coach in Shawnee County history?
Former Hayden coach Ben Meseke coached Hayden to 12 state titles in basketball and cross country. [Macfeesports.com]
Ken Darting has coached five teams to state boys basketball championships, including four at Highland Park. [File photo/TSN]
Current Seaman basketball coach Craig Cox has led five teams to state championships in basketball and baseball, including the Class 5A basketball title this past season. [File photo/TSN]
The late Willie Nicklin compiled over 500 career basketball wins and led Topeka High to a pair of state titles. [Submitted photo]
Is it former Hayden coach Ben Meseke, who led the Wildcats to six state titles, including a perfect season in 1983, or is it former Silver Lake and Highland Park coach and current Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting, who coached five state championship teams, including a 25-0 season at Hi Park in 2007?
It's also impossible to overlook Hall of Fame legends like Willie Nicklin (Topeka High) and Ken Bueltel (Hayden) or Randy Springs (Highland Park), who coached the Scots to a pair of state titles and a win in the only Grand State Tournament.
Current Seaman coach Craig Cox has three career boys basketball titles, including the first boys crown in school history this past season, while both Cox and Bob Bodenheimer won a pair of state championships at Shawnee Heights.
There are 11 candidates listed to pick from at https://linkto.run/p/2CHKQYK7 while readers also have the option of writing in a name.
Vote as many times as you wish, with the only requirement that eligible candidates must have been a head or assistant coach in Shawnee County at one of the county's 10 high schools.
Final selections will be based on reader vote as well as input from TSN contributors and current and past local sports media professionals.
Votes will be accepted through July 15 before TSN publishes our Best of the Best lists in July and August.
NEXT UP: Bowling (Poll will be posted on June 30).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in 14 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. Readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 15, with the Top 10 in all categories announced in July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best Women's Basketball Coach click on https://linkto.run/p/90HCOVC1 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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There may not be a clearcut favorite when it comes down to picking the top women's high school basketball coach in Shawnee County history.
Loren Ziegler coached Silver Lake to five state girls basketball titles over three decades. [Silver Lake Schools]
Kevin Bordewick coached Washburn Rural to a second Class 6A state basketball and his ninth state title overall in the 2021-2022 season. [File photo/TSN]
Bill Annan led Washburn Rural to three Class 6A girls state basketball titles before moving on to the Division I level as an assistant coach. [Oklahoma State Athletics]
Hayden Hall of Famer Rick Strecker coached the Wildcats to three girls state basketball championships. [File photo/TSN]
Or to look at it another way, there's a whole bunch of favorites.
Former Silver Lake coach Loren Ziegler coached the Eagles to five state crowns over three decades, one of five former or current county coaches who have won multiple state championships.
Bill Annan coached Washburn Rural to three Class 6A state titles before going on to a long and continuing career at the Division I level while Rick Strecker coached Hayden to three 4A state titles and Mike Goehring (Topeka West) and Kevin Bordewick (Washburn Rural) have won two state titles.
Bordewick, who won his second basketball championship this past season, also served as an assistant coach on all three of Annan's title teams in addition to winning seven state volleyball titles.
There are 11 candidates listed to pick from at https://linkto.run/p/90HCOVC1 while readers also have the option of writing in a name.
Vote as many times as you wish, with the only requirement that eligible candidates must have coached as a head coach or assistant at one of the county's 10 high schools.
Final selections will be based on reader vote as well as input from TSN contributors and current and past local sports media professionals.
Votes will be accepted through July 15 before TSN publishes our Best of the Best lists in July and August.
NEXT UP: Men's basketball (ballot will be posted on June 29).
Related Stories and Videos
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in 14 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project gets under way with baseball and readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 15, with the Top 10 in all categories announced in July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on: https://linkto.run/p/20HCOVC1 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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The list of contenders to get the nod as the top baseball coach in Shawnee County history has to start with former Seaman coach Steve Bushnell and former Silver Lake coach Alan Cunningham, who combined for an amazing 15 state titles.
Current Seaman athletic director Steve Bushnell (standing), with former star Ben Carlson, led the Vikings to nine Class 5A state championships as Seaman's baseball coach. [File photo/TSN]
Alan Cunningham
Bushnell led Seaman to nine Class 5A state championships before stepping into the athletic director's position at Seaman while Cunningham coached Silver Lake to six 3A titles.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Last summer TopSports.news took on the task of honoring hundreds of Shawnee County's all-time great athletes in more than 20 sports as part of our Best of the Best project.
As rewarding as that project was, however, there was something missing -- the high school coaches, both head coaches and assistants past and present -- who have helped hundreds if not thousands of county athletes achieve athletic greatness.
Washburn Rural's Kevin Bordewick has coached nine Class 6A state championship teams in volleyball and girls basketball. [File photo/TSN]
Current Seaman basketball coach Craig Cox has led five teams to state championships in basketball and baseball, including the Class 5A basketball title this past season. [File photo/TSN]
Former Hayden coach Ben Meseke (right), talking with former Wildcat coach and athletic director Jerry Simecka, coached Hayden to 12 state titles in basketball and cross country. [File photo/TSN
Brenda Holaday coached Washburn Rural to multiple Class 6A state softball championships before moving on to a successful career at Washburn University. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
This summer we will try to correct that ommision, with TopSports.news planning to publish Best of the Best coaches lists in 14 different sports.
As was the case a year ago, TSN will rely heavily on our readers for their input in rating the best coaches in the history of the county.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news writer Rick Peterson recently sat down with highly-successful high school and college softball coach Brenda Holaday to discuss the far-reaching benefits of Title IX, which was signed into law 50 years ago, on June 23, 1972. Holaday talked about how far women's sports have come and how far they can go in the future.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brenda Holaday has had a bird's eye view of what Title IX legislation has meant to female athletes not only in Kansas, but across the United States.
Highly-successful softball coach Brenda Holaday has seen first hand how far women's sports have progressed since Title IX went into law 50 years ago. [The Washburn Review]
Holaday has been a highly-successful softball coach at the high school and NCAA Division II level for more than four decades as well as a high school and college athlete.
And while the current Washburn University and former Washburn Rural coach is immensely proud of how far women's sports have progressed over the past 50 years, she knows there's still progress that can be made in years to come.
"It's come a long ways,'' Holaday said. "It's got a ways to go for sure, but I think first and foremost what happened along with Title IX, is those opportunities allowed female athletes to get better. When it started out, female athletes weren't in the weight room, they didn't have the best coaches, they weren't doing anything offseason, whereas a lot of the men's sports were.
"Then all of a sudden, they started letting females in the weight room or some semblance of a weight room for them and we started realizing these female athletes were much more capable than we thought they were and at the same time they were getting more opportunities.''
After playing softball three seasons at Kansas State, Holaday started her coaching career at Wabaunsee, then led Washburn Rural to multilple Class 6A state championships before leading Washburn University's softball program to multiple MIAA regular-season titles and NCAA Tournament appearances over her first six seasons with the Ichabods.
But Holaday's first experiences with the impact of Title IX came in the mid-1970s as a student-athlete at Jackson Heights High School.
"I remember when I was at Jackson Heights we got our first male coach,'' Holaday said. "Kenny Thomas became the women's basketball coach and I can remember I was a freshman coming in and we won state and Grand State with him. He'd always coached boys and I can remember the reaction of the boys in our school and parents to how hard he was on females and I think my memory of that is that it was kind of that aha moment for everybody to go, 'You know what, these girls can be coached just as hard as boys, these girls can be worked just as hard as boys, they can train just as hard, they can condition just as hard.'
"And I think that was happening at the same time some other opportunities were being created, so I think some of the explosion during that time was sort of two-fold.''
