THE PROMISE OF IOWA
by M. Heibult
Coach Daryl Tutje was presented with the 2024 Iowa Football Coach Association Assistant Coach of the Year award on March 4, 2024, while attending a coaching workshop. He was nominated by Mr. Mike McCarty (S – O Head Football Coach) without Tutje’s knowledge. When he found out about winning the award, he was very surprised, especially because the team wasn’t in the championships or semi-finals.
Mr. Tutje has been teaching for 37 years and coaching for around 33 years. Tutje reported that teamwork is his favorite thing about coaching. Before they can get the team to work together, the coaches need to push the players to work together towards a common goal. Tutje stated, “And just the people that I have worked with over the years. I really enjoy having that relationship with them.”
Tutje was involved in football, wrestling, track and field, and baseball when he was in high school. He has loved sports all of his life, especially football and baseball. Tutje had really good coaches when he was in school and they influenced him a great deal, leading to him becoming a coach. “I just love sports and I’ve always known that’s what I wanted to do,” Tutje responded. He was the head baseball coach at S – O for 25 years. When his boys were in high school, Tutje was the head football coach, then went down to assistant coach for many years. He got out of coaching for several years before McCarty became head coach; McCarty convinced Tutje to join high school football again as an assistant coach.