Williams enters the MNFCA Hall of Fame
It’s hard not to feel motivated after spending an evening in a room filled with head coaches at the Minnesota Football Coaches Association banquet on Saturday. Owatonna’s Jeff Williams entered the Hall of Fame, and Matt Skala received the Butch Nash Assistant Coach of the Year honor.
Williams spoke of the close-knit nature of living, teaching, and coaching in a small town.
“You coach with your friends, and your friends are honest with you. If you’re doing things right, they tell you. And if you’re not doing things right, they tell you as well. You just figure out how to make it work,” said Williams.
He expressed appreciation for the character of the players.
“The opportunity to have your kids grow up in a program where you have great kids as role models. To be able to bring your kids to practice and play toss on the side of practice is so unbelievable. Because we spend so much time with other peoples’ kids, when we get a chance to coach our own kids, it’s so rewarding. I got a chance to coach both Matt and Nick, and it was about the coolest experience I’ve ever had as a coach,” said Williams.
Williams thanked his wife, Nancy.
“She raised the boys. Everyone in the room knows that’s how it goes,” he said.
He credited his mom, a surgical nurse, for his desire to get into biology, while his father inspired what he did with that interest.
“I looked at my dad and said, ‘Teacher and coach. What a great, great thing that is to become.’”
Williams is the winningest coach in Big Nine Conference history and is a 10-time Section Coach of the Year. OHS has three state titles and two runner-up finishes during his tenure.
Top-notch coaches
Other Owatonna coaches to earn the Butch Nash honor include Ken Bey (1984), Ed Draheim (1987), Delles Solie (2007), Marc Achterkirch (2012), Doug Wanous (2014), and Jerry Eggermont (2022). Achterkirch was named Assistant Coach of the Year in 2013 and Wanous, in 2020. Jerry Peterson entered the Hall of Fame in 1997.
“That list is remarkable,” Skala told Owatonna Live. “Sometimes we have different opinions, which makes it work. We have great conversations and are very respectful. We almost encourage people to challenge each other because it’s what ultimately comes around to the best decision we’re going to go with. What great guys, great friends and great memories,” said Skala.
The success of the program keeps the staff together.
“We learn and see how a lot of other programs operate. Owatonna is ‘that’ place. The support, the fan base, the leadership, the administration, and now our facility on top of it. You kind of sense like, ‘All right, if someone is going to go somewhere else, is the grass really greener over there?’ You feel valued here. You just don’t look for those opportunities because you know you are in the right spot,” said Skala.
Even though he didn’t know he would end up back at his alma mater, Skala knew all along he wanted to work with people.
“I’m very patient. I’m a good listener, and I enjoy that. Even in high school as a player, being captain, having those leadership roles. Having the ability to help other people, whatever they needed, and be there for others, and serve. As I went through college, I knew I wanted to teach and coach. I love sports, and it just kind of all came together. I’m always looking for ways to help out young kids.”
Skala, a 1999 grad and member of the OHS Athletic Hall of Fame, was “most excited” to be there for Williams, who became head coach during Skala’s sophomore year.
Williams also picked up some hardware as a Class AAAAA Section One Coach of the Year and for reaching 200 career wins last fall.
Blooming Prairie’s Chad Gimbel also hit the 200-win milestone. While the Awesome Blossoms’ Matt Kittelson was a Butch Nash Award winner as well.