Knights have knack for promoting from within

Last month, Colony High School named longtime assistant Tom Berg its new boys basketball coach. The hire was not just the right move, it was a no-brainer.

Berg, a 1997 Colony grad, served on the bench for seven seasons, waiting for the opportunity to take the reins of the Colony program. Berg got his chance, just like a number of other assistants at Colony High School.

I’ve always been impressed by the strength of the coaching at Mat-Su Valley high schools. Sometimes Valley programs have to lure coaches from outside the school, but Colony seems to have a knack for finding mentors within its own programs.

Colony has built a tradition of promoting within the program, and the boys basketball team is a prime example.

Berg is the fourth head coach in the history of Colony boys basketball, and the third who started as an assistant within the program. After Chuck Martin started the program nearly 20 years ago, the Knights have also watched as Phil Engebretsen and Jeff Bowker were promoted from assistant to head coach.

Colony quickly established itself as an elite boys basketball program in Alaska’s 4A class. Martin, Engebretsen and Bowker each led the Knights to multiple Northern Lights Conference championships.

During Berg’s senior season at CHS, Martin took the Knights to the 1997 title game. Bowker took Colony to the championship game in 2005 and 2007.

By promoting assistants who have spent time in the program, Colony continues to boast a winning basketball program.

But the boys basketball squad is not the only CHS team to use this recipe for success.

In other sports, such as girls basketball, football, volleyball and wrestling, the Knights continue to win after promoting from within.

Tom Lincoln entered the 2009-10 season as a first-year head coach. He inherited a team that graduated eight seniors, but still was able to lead the Knights to the NLC championship game and the state tournament.

Lincoln replaced longtime head coach Don Witzel, who led the Knights to more than 300 wins and four state titles. Witzel started coaching at Colony as an assistant on the boys team before he was hired to be the girls basketball coach.

In wrestling, Dave Booth took over for Fred McKenney in 2009 and led the Knights to their third straight state title.

Jamie Mayo spent more than a decade as an assistant on the Colony football staff before he was named a head coach in 2005. Mayo led the Knights to a state championship game during his time as head coach.

Mayo stepped down from his position as head coach following the 2009 season, but Colony quickly hired another assistant, Brian McIntosh.

In volleyball, Amy Carter started as an assistant before she was named head coach in 2005. Since, she has led the Knights to multiple conference titles and two appearances in the state title match.

Colony has done a fine job of producing athletes in the last two decades. Numerous Colony graduates have competed on the NCAA, NAIA and junior college levels. Some — such as Cole Magner (football), Jessica Moore (basketball) and Nathan Schwartzbauer (hockey) — made it to the professional level.

But the school has also done an excellent job developing its coaches.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.