KDSN Radio

Osborn retires and is 3rd-winningest coach in Iowa boys basketball history

(Daily Nonpareil) – 10 years ago, Mitch Osborn wasn’t certain if he’d get the choice to decide when to retire.  He had been diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma in 2014.  At 52 years old, Osborn faced the toughest challenge of his coaching career and his life.  He stepped away from his administrative duties at Harlan High School, but continued to coach the Cyclones boys basketball team.  Since then, Osborn has had 8 seasons with double-digit wins and reached an 11th state tournament, Osborn’s record-tying 19th state tournament appearance – tied with Iowa City Wests’ Steve Bergman.  It also saw Osborn climb into third place all-time in the state of Iowa in career wins, with 770 wins to just 219 losses.  His tenure at Harlan included over 500 wins in 29 seasons. Osborn says he will always remember the relationships that were made.  And he says if you coach long enough, you coach some of your former players’ kids, like Kobe Klaassen, the son of Zach Klaassen, who played under Osborn at Pomeroy-Palmer, where Osborn coached after coaching at Elk Horn-Kimballton.  Jeff Bissen is a former player and is now the athletic director at Glenwood and also an assistant coach for the boys basketball team.  Bissen says the best advice he got from Osborn was to give his all every day and to keep playing regardless of the score.  Monday nights game against Glenwood was Osborn’s final game.  The decision was not an easy one, but slowing down and taking better care of himself drove him to land on retirement.  All in all, Osborn was and is a tremendous coach and in the eyes of many of his players, his family and his friends, he is a legend.  Thank you Mitch for many years of great memories.

Full interview with Mitch Osborn below