KQWC Radio confirmed on Wednesday night that Webster City Hall of Fame Football Coach Bob Howard will retire following 47 seasons as a head coach, the last 17 of them as head coach of the Lynx. Howard’s Lynx went 8-3 in his final season, finishing as district runners-up to Clear Lake, and bowing out in the Class 3A Quarterfinals.
Howard, a native of Madrid, started his head coaching career in 1977 at Scranton High School in Greene County, where he was the head coach for 3 seasons, where his record was 19-5 and led Scranton to the playoffs in 1978.
In 1980, Howard was named head coach of the Sigourney Savages, later striking a co-op agreement with nearby Keota to become the Sigourney-Keota Savage Cobras. Howard brought a title to S-K in 1995 with a 14-10 win over West Lyon. His 2nd title came in 2001, was a 27-14 win over Dike-New Hartford, while his 3rd came just 3 years later as S-K defeated Sheldon 27-24, finishing his S-K tenure with 229-52.
Howard made the move closer to family in 2007, when he accepted the job at Webster City, one of Iowa High School Football’s historical powers that had fallen on hard times for almost a decade. In just 2 seasons, Howard had the Lynx in the 3A Postseason, in 2015, he led Webster City to the first double-digit win season since 1986. The next season, Howard led the Lynx to their first ever state championship game, ultimately falling short to Pella 28-18.
Howard’s final record at Webster City was 124-56 in 17 seasons, and had a career record of 372-113 with 30 playoff appearances, 3 state championships and finishes his career ranked 5th on the all-time wins list in Iowa High School Football History.