Boettcher notches 700th win leading Alba-Golden

Posted 12/11/19

The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers’ Nov. 25 win over All Saints was a pretty normal basketball game between two young teams. The Lady Panthers prevailed 47-35 to earn their fourth win of the early season. Unbeknownst to but a few, the win was also the 700th career girls high school coaching victory for new Alba-Golden Head Coach Eric Boettcher. 

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Boettcher notches 700th win leading Alba-Golden

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The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers’ Nov. 25 win over All Saints was a pretty normal basketball game between two young teams. The Lady Panthers prevailed 47-35 to earn their fourth win of the early season. Unbeknownst to but a few, the win was also the 700th career girls high school coaching victory for new Alba-Golden Head Coach Eric Boettcher. 

Alba-Golden is Boettcher’s latest stop in a long history of coaching success.  From small schools in the Panhandle (Bushland, Stratford), North Texas (Henrietta, Henrietta Midway, Krum), to the Hill Country (Marble Falls), to Houston’s Second Baptist and Lake Country Christian School of Fort Worth, Boettcher has built and sustained championship-caliber girls basketball programs across the state. 

Along the way he achieved the ultimate prize, a state 4A-TAPPS championship in 2018 while leading Lake Country Christian.

Boettcher attempts to minimize his record, “There are no magic x’s and o’s,” he stated. “No formula, just hard work.” When pressed for his methodology, he explained, “There are three fundamentals I try to follow: 1) make the game fun, 2) build camaraderie, and 3) find the right champions.” 

It is finding the right champions which is the most difficult. “They are not always your best athlete,” he explained. Boettcher said the right champions must have the intangibles which can prevail in the most trying circumstances.  

Coming out of his second retirement to lead the Lady Panthers basketball and track programs, Boettcher felt an immediate connection to the school and the community.  “I was impressed by the school,” he said, “and the girls on the team are meeting the challenges of competition every day.”

Boettcher is fielding a young and inexperienced team this season; however he is pleased at the level of communication between the players and coaching staff.  Boettcher summarized: “Hanna Wright and Kallie Wright are developing rapidly in their roles as strong post players, Bella Crawford has stepped up as our leading scorer, while Cacie Lennon is ably directing the offense and Crimson Bryant is leading our rebounders.”    

The youth and inexperience will curb expectations a bit this year, Boettcher admits, but will make for an exciting future.

From the small family farm of his youth in Conway Springs, Kan. to Alba-Golden, Boettcher has always been guided by the calling to be a positive Christian influence on the young people he has the honor to teach and coach. He and his wife, Becky, a retired elementary school teacher, are already fully engaged in the school and community.