VEEDERSBURG — Herb King has made a career out of, as he calls it, “spinning plates and keep on going.”
The Fountain Central football coach pickup up his 200th career victory a couple Fridays ago, but it is all in the framework a busy, busy life.
“I enjoy my life,” he noted, all while listing the many things he has done or accomplished, answering phone calls with assistant coaches or planning the next move.
He has been the head coach at five high schools, starting with North Putnam, then South Decatur, Rockville, Seeger and now Fountain Central. He is the all-time winningest coach at Rockville, and has made a habit of going to a program that hadn’t won much to picking up those 200 victories.
He guided North Put to a sectional title, and Rockville all the way to the state championship game. Now in his 34th season as a head coach, there are very few of the first 33 where his team had fewer wins than losses.
“It’s all about the kids,” he said, “and I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by great assistant coaches and then the kids just buy into the program. They get into the weight room, they practice hard, they play hard. The success on the field has also been extended to a lot of young men becoming very successful in their lives. We try to do the best with what we have, and the kids put in the work.”
King has had several former players go into the coaching ranks.
“Cody Stout was one of my Rockville guys and he is now the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Minnesota,” he said. “James Kent went to play college football at national power Mt. Union and after a couple stops, is now head coach at Matoon, Illinois. Justin Wheeler, from Seeger, is now the head coach at Covington. Aarick Gault, from South Decatur, also went to Mt. Union, coached there has been the Defensive Coordinator at both Franklin and Hanover when they went to the D3 playoffs.”
There were other successes.
“Zach Clapp was the Mental Attitude Award winner on the Rockville state finals team, and now he is the Clay County Prosecutor. One of the most satisfying personal guys, though, is a young man who my wife (Nancy) and I took into our home and became part of our family. He was the first member of his family to graduate from high school. He went into the Navy and is now a success in Kansas City. What we always want is for the kids to do the right thing the right way.”
Success for a football coach over the years is about utilizing the talent available, according to the coach.
“You fit the offense and defense into the talent you have in front of you,” King noted. “I’m better known as a quarterbacks coach, but I coached the state’s leading rusher twice. You have to be able to get the kids opportunities and then get the best out of those kids and opportunities.”
King has also stayed in the more rural school communities. “I like the challenge of that type of school,” he said. “There have been other chances to go other places, but this is the best fit for me. These kids bring a fundamental work ethic.”
But back to the spinning plates.
Coaching is a tall order and takes a lot of time, but King has quite the list of other accomplishments on his list.
“I was an auctioneer to pay my way through college,” he said as he rattled off a quick cadence, “and I was the choir director at Rockville for two years. I also sang for the Woodsmen. We performed at the Strawberry Festival a few times, and at county fairs and at lots of other places.”
He has been a member of the media for a long time. He has done streaming play by play for Indiana Sports Network and Rose Hulman College for eight years and is in his second year of covering the Sprint Football League, featuring players all under 185 pounds. He covers St. Mary of the Woods and has done many years of basketball for them as well, including trips to the NAIA national tournament.
He also finds time to get to some Marian College football games, where his son Matt is the Offensive Coordinator. His daughter Molly teaches at Crawfordsville Middle School and is a leading advocate for people with diabetes.
Going back a little, he was high school all-state with Tippecanoe Valley and won a state championship as a player in 1979. He played two years at Bluffton before going to Grace College and becoming a player-coach. During that same time, he was an assistant coach at Triton High School. He graduated and started his coaching career as an assistant at Covington, before taking charge at North Put. He was voted into the Indiana Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2022.
So, lots of football experience. Lots of life experience.
With just a little more.
“I’ve mellowed a lot as I have gotten older,” he said. “I’m more grounded in my faith, and I’ve had some time in the pulpit at a small church that I attend. The drive to succeed is always there, and the drive to make young men better is always there. Football prepares you for life. You get knocked down, you get up and move forward.”
The coach that has never had a playbook; “we show them and they learn by doing,” continues to show and do.
Who knows what is next as Herb King continues spinning all those plates.
