Alloway returns to coach Lutheran boys

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BY LORI GRIFFIN / Lincoln Journal Star

Please excuse Eric Alloway if he feels a little bit nostalgic as he enters Lincoln Lutheran School these days.

Alloway, recently hired as the Warriors’ boys basketball coach, is returning to the school where he began his high school coaching career.

And he’s more than just a little familiar with his boss.

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Alloway has known Lutheran athletic director Don Duitsman since childhood.

Duitsman was the principal at Zion Lutheran School in Hastings, when Alloway was a fourth-grader.

Alloway, who spent the past two seasons at Parkview Christian, is glad to be at Lutheran again.

A four-year coach at the high school level, Alloway began as an assistant to Joel Stoltenow before taking over the reins at Parkview.

“My relationship with Don Duitsman is part of a long history,” Alloway said. “He contacted me.  We actually ran into him at church and he asked me if I was interested and I said yes. He contacted me shortly thereafter.

“Joel kind of got me into the high school program after I spent several years with the middle school programs. He brought me into the high school.”

Alloway, a graduate of Concordia University in Seward, began coaching 12 years ago.

“It’s been a whirlwind. It all came down about two weeks ago and we’ve already been into the fire,” Alloway said. “We had three teams in YMCA leagues and three teams in another league and getting team camps ready, plus open gym.”

The Warriors advanced to the state tournament in 2008 for the first time. Alloway is hoping to build on that success.

“This is the 11th year of Lincoln Lutheran and we now have families that have graduated and have brothers and sisters in the system,” Alloway said. “We hope to continue to get the school going in the right direction.

“We have some quality basketball players.  We are looking to simulate the soccer program, I guess, and are looking forward to Lutheran as a whole being part of it.”

But the decision to leave Parkview was tough.

“For me, coaching is about the kids and the families,” Alloway said. “And they have really good kids and families at Parkview.

“Parkview is going to have some good kids coming up. But being back at Lutheran is where I want to be.”

Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com.