The new head coach of the Ankeny volleyball team is already familiar with the Hawkettes’ program.
Longtime Urbandale coach Liz Baethke has been hired to replace Dani Kohut Lynch, who guided Ankeny to a 35-5 record in her only season at the school. Baethke accepted the position more than a month ago, but her hiring wasn’t approved by the school board until Monday night.
“I’m super excited,” said Baethke. “I’m not sure that I necessarily saw it coming now, but the opportunity was there. I just felt like I had one more big move in me. Ideally, maybe it would be a college job or in administration, but I probably don’t have the ability right now to do one of those because of the timing with IPERS. I’m getting close, but I’m not there yet.”
Baethke spent the last 23 years at Urbandale, compiling a record of 589-279-14. She owns a career mark of 670-348-42.
Baethke led the J-Hawks to nine state tournament appearances.
“My youngest (child) is a senior at Urbandale, and my husband is retired from teaching,” Baethke said. “It just felt like it was time to make a move if I was going to so that I could dedicate some years here as well, because there’s been a lot of turnover here of late.”
Baethke will become Ankeny’s third different coach in the last three seasons. Kohut Lynch guided the Hawkettes to the Class 5A state tournament a year ago, but then resigned suddenly earlier this summer.
“It was a tough decision,” she said.
Both Ankeny and Urbandale lost in the Class 5A quarterfinals in 2022. The J-Hawks took the first set from Iowa City Liberty before falling to the eventual champions.
Urbandale finished with a 16-20 record.
“You just get to a point where you feel like you’ve done all you can,” she said. “I loved my time there, especially watching my own children grow up there. And now I’m about an empty-nester. I wasn’t ready to get out of coaching, and this is where I landed and I’m really happy about that.”
Baethke said she wasn’t interested in taking over a rebuilding program.
“I’m too old for that,” she said.
The tradition-rich Ankeny program won five state titles under Hall of Fame coach Dave Whims, the last one in 2020. He retired for the second time after the 2021 season, when the Hawkettes won an epic five-set battle against Baethke’s Urbandale squad in the Class 5A quarterfinals.
“I’ve spent a lot of hours scouting them, so I’m pretty familiar with some of their players,” Baethke said.
Ankeny and Urbandale are both members of the CIML Conference. The Hawkettes will host Baethke’s former team on Oct. 5.
Baethke said she hesitated only briefly before pursuing the Ankeny job.
“There’s a reason for it,” she said. “The energy and the vibe–it just felt like it was right, and I don’t usually ignore things like that.”
The Hawkettes will open the season on Aug. 22 at Dowling Catholic.
“I feel like I’m on speed dial,” Baethke said. “I really do need the players to buy in and trust me as soon as possible, but we’ve really just jelled super quick. It’s been a good mix of keeping some of the tradition and bringing in some new things. I really do want them to be comfortable with what we’re doing.”