By Joe Geren
The “War on 34” isn’t just a slogan, Southeastern Community College men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Watkins will tell you.
“It’s real,” he said.
Watkins should know. He’s been a combatant on both sides.
As any Blackhawk fan can tell you, “The War on 34” is the basketball rivalry between SCC and Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa. Both schools are located near U.S. Highway 34. It has been heralded as the fiercest rivalry in junior college basketball.
This year’s battles will ignite on the western front. The Blackhawks will deploy to Indian Hills on Jan. 18. The Warriors invade SCC’s Loren Walker Arena on Feb. 15.
Indian Hills head coach Terry Carroll, who later coached at SCC, found Watkins at Craddock High School in Portsmouth, Va., in 1991 and lured him to Ottumwa. Watkins became a two-time All-Region XI guard and played on the Warriors’ first team to qualify for the national tournament, finishing fourth.
“My mom and dad were in the military,” Watkins said. “They got stationed in Korea, so I stayed in Virginia and graduated from high school. My mom, dad, and two sisters went to Seoul, Korea. Coach Carroll came out to Portsmouth, Va., and watched me play. I got recruited to play at Indian Hills.”
After Indian Hills, Watkins played two seasons at Idaho State, averaging 14.1 points a game. As a player, however, he had no plans to enter coaching.
“Did I want to get into coaching?” he asked. “Nope. I was always in criminal justice programs and really wanted to work in like a juvenile detention center to try to help kids get through some stuff. Pat Lacy, who is with the detention center in Mount Pleasant and with the one here in Burlington, was my college roommate (at Indian Hills). We always talked about doing it and he’s been doing it for 30-plus years now. We played basketball together at Indian Hills.”
Lacy is currently the division manager for the Eighth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services.
Watkins’ coach at Idaho State muddled the plans.
“My head coach, Herb Williams, said, ‘Hey, what do you think about staying on, helping us out (as a graduate assistant) and see how you like it?’ I did it, liked it, and then got an opportunity to come back to Indian Hills to work with Coach Carroll” as his assistant.
He also worked as an assistant at some four-year programs and as Carroll’s assistant at SCC.
Watkins was head coach at Indian Hills four years, posting a 94-16 record, and is now in his eighth season as head coach at SCC. His Blackhawk teams have gone 171-56. His current team is 14-1 at the holiday break.
To some die-hard fans, going from Indian Hills to SCC may be heresy.
“I’ve been here 16 years,” Watkins said, “and it was probably the hardest thing to do as a player, as an assistant coach, as a head coach at Indian Hills. Now you come to the biggest rival. It was tough. I have life-long friends still over there, some that I went to school with over there, some that helped me get my career going.
“Once I got over here,” Watkins continued, “the thing with Coach Carroll, they looked at him and said, ‘We’ve been rooting against you for ages. Not just rooting, we’ve been hating you.’ That War on 34, that was for real. That wasn’t just a slogan. It was real.”
But all is well now.
“I really, really appreciate the open arms of people here,” Watkins said. “That’s what Burlington’s about. I have life-long friends here now, and that’s why we continue to stay here.”
Watkins is looking for more than just basketball skills on the recruiting trail.
“Everybody talks about you’ve got to get the most talented kids,” Watkins said. “I think a lot of it is looking at the kid as a person. How are you going to fit into the community? I want a kid who will sacrifice.”
He added: “They’ve got to come from a winning program. Everybody is teaching these kids about being offensive-minded. So then, when I get them, some of them shut down. Some of them can’t understand that you’ve got to sacrifice one end of the floor for the other. If you want to have success, you’ve got to change a little bit, your mindset. Some things have to be a little bit more important, defending, rebounding the ball, taking care of the ball. Those things don’t need any talent. It’s commitment and determination.”
“It’s about sacrifices,” Watkins said. “The guy to the right of you and the guy to the left of you is as good or better than you. Now, you have to coexist. So, what are you going to sacrifice to win? That’s what it’s about. I have to get these guys to understand that.”
The most important victory for the basketball players is the diploma.
“To me, to see our guys graduate and move on, that’s my gratification,” Watkins said. “We’re going to win games. Yep. I’d love to win every game and the national championship every year. Nothing’s going to change my work ethic, but my success comes from going into these kids’ homes and seeing where they come from and where they have an opportunity to go. We’re going to give you every opportunity to be successful on and off the floor.”
He continued: “If I ever get to a point where it’s just win, win, win, win, then I’m going to find something else to do.”
Watkins and his wife Sara have four sons and a daughter. Their son Mason is in the midst of a successful high school basketball career at West Burlington High School. Since SCC and the high school normally have games on different days, Watkins is able to follow Mason’s career.
Sara, a native of Eldon, played softball for Indian Hills.
Watkins has had offers to coach elsewhere.
“But why?” Watkins asked. “I love coaching here. I love the town. I love raising our kids here, and I have great friends. I don’t need anything else.”