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Appel takes over Bobcat boys basketball

Michael Appel

The steps weren’t one in front of the other, but they still got Michael Appel back home to take up the reins of his alma mater’s pride and joy.

Marshalltown High School announced on Monday that Appel, a 2009 graduate of MHS, has been named the new head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team. Appel, who served as an assistant to Scott Smith for one season, was a starter on the last Bobcat squad to advance to the state tournament.

Smith stepped down from his post in the spring after seven years at the helm of one of the most prolific boys’ basketball programs in the state, and Appel said he applied for the post almost instantly.

“I feel like I’m very blessed to be in the position I am getting this job,” he said on Monday. “I feel like a lot of things kind of went my way to put me in this position.”

Appel played three seasons of varsity basketball at MHS before two years at Marshalltown Community College and another two seasons at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., prior to graduating in 2014. He and his wife Kelsey (Hood) lived in Alabama for a short time before moving back to Marshalltown with their son Leo so they could be among family.

“Right when we moved back, [MCC] coach Brynjar Brynjarsson got ahold of me and I started coaching,” Michael said. “I was with ‘coach B’ for three years and this winter was my first at MHS.

“Throughout my whole career I learned so much of the game of basketball from coach B, just from the aspect of preparing for games and watching film and finding a way to give your team a chance to win, always figuring out ways to get better. The amount of time, the dedication, it’s non-stop.”

Appel completed his student teaching at West Marshall High School before becoming a special education instructor at MHS. And now he’s the head coach of his high school’s boys’ basketball team, which with 24 state tournament appearances ranks third all-time in Iowa.

“I got involved with basketball out at the college, but last year it was really drawing on me that I needed to get involved with the high school program,” he said. “I asked coach Smith if he’d be OK with me helping out and he said ‘absolutely,’ and it took off from there. It worked out the job came open this year, but unfortunately it was because of Scott resigning, but he had to do what he needed to do.”

Appel played his three seasons of Bobcat basketball under Ron Ginapp, and also served on the MCC staff with Ginapp for two years.

“It was great to have my coach there,” Appel said of Ginapp. “He’s always going to be honest with me, he’s somebody I can go to for advice — I learned a lot in the two years I coached with him at MCC. I respected him a lot as a player and I saw how much he cares about the players as a coach and now I respect him even more.”

Appel graduated with 704 career points in his Bobcat playing career, which currently ranks 19th in school history. He was a first-team all-conference selection as a senior, a second-team pick as a junior and a three-year letterwinner.

At MCC, Appel was a two-time honorable mention selection in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference before closing out his playing days at Southwest Minnesota State, where he played in 19 games in two seasons and averaged 1.7 points.

The 27-year-old Appel has been headed down the road toward coaching since his youth, when he grew up watching his father Jerry serve on the MHS coaching staff as well.

“I had in my mind when I was going to be a teacher that I was going to be a coach, I didn’t know exactly where or what, but I always knew I had a passion for it,” Michael said. “It all started with my dad, he loved the game and was always watching and coaching it, I grew up around it and that’s when my love for the game began. I started to learn the game at a pretty young age, I was always asking questions and he was always explaining things. That’s where it began.”

Appel isn’t sure where the expectation level is set from the outside, but he’s set the bar plenty high for himself.

“The expectations are there and I’m OK with that,” he said. “I think I hold myself in higher regard than anybody, I’m going to go into any situation and try to be the best we can be. It takes a lot of time and commitment, and I think I’m willing to do what it takes.”

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