Folks who thought the success of the West Hancock Titan boys basketball program would drop off following the retirement of IBCA Hall of Famer and 1998 Class A state champion head coach Reno Pinkston might be sorely mistaken. The Titans have replaced Pinkston with a coach that also has an IHSA state championship under his belt. Jeff Dahl won a Class A state title in 1997 with Warsaw the year before Pinkston claimed his in 1998 with Nauvoo-Colusa. Interestingly enough, both schools are a part of the West Hancock program of today and faced each other on the sidelines in the late 90’s. The similarities don’t end there, as both coaches knocked off Spring Valley Hall to bring the 1st place trophy home. Dahl was the head coach of the Warsaw Wildcats for five years from 1994-1999, before moving on the Keokuk, Iowa where, for 7 years, he turned around a program into one of the top 3A teams in Iowa. Dahl amassed 214 wins during those 12 high school years. He’s also spent time on college coaching staffs, as well. Dahl began his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Northwestern in Minnesota. In addition to being an assistant at Culver Stockton and Iowa Wesleyan, he was also on the coaching staff at Southeastern Community College in Burlington during their first national title run in 2000. Dahl takes over at West Hancock for the retired IBCA Hall of Famer Reno Pinkston, who stepped away from coaching in April after 29 years as a head coach. Besides his 1998 state championship, Pinkston garnered over 600 career wins. Dahl’s son, Jonny, will join his Dad on the West Hancock coaching staff. In addition to being a standout player, the younger Dahl was an assistant on the Camp Point Central boys basketball coaching staff this past winter.
