Scott City celebrates Mark Dannenmueller becoming Rams' winningest coach with 219 victories

A humble leader of young men, Scott City athletic director and boys' basketball coach Mark Dannenmueller never kept track of his career wins or how close he was to the all-time mark.

"It means I've been coaching a long time," Dannenmueller said.

His assistant coaches, and the rest of the school, however, did.

Expecting the inevitable outcome that took place on Thursday, Jan. 30, the entire Scott City community was ready to celebrate Dannenmueller winning his 219th game and becoming the school’s winningest coach.

"This is why you get into coaching, just because of the kids," Dannenmueller said. "You want to make a positive impact in kids' lives. It's what it's all about."

After beating South Pemicsot 67-49, three of his players surprised Dannenmueller with a game ball, a gray t-shirt commemorating his 219th career win, and a cardboard sign reading “Congrats Coach D! Most wins in SC history,” with a team picture from a game at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN.

And for added pizzazz, the rest of the team fired confetti blasters around their coach.

"I don't like this stuff," Dannenmueller said. "It makes you a little uncomfortable but it's really cool. I'm really thankful for it, and I appreciate it. It was fun that I got to see a lot of people here tonight that I haven't seen in a little while."

While the mark means little to Dannenmueller personally, it's an achievement for the community, where time orbits in a circular motion. When Dannenmueller was a star player in his own right at Scott City until graduating in 2005, he once mentioned "Tim Lowery" as people he looked up to as a youth before he scored his 1,000th point. Now he's coaching his son, Kaden Lowery, who scored 15 points to help him reach the milestone.

The man who coached him two decades ago, Lance Amick, is now the school's superintendent. Dannenmeuller said the impact of the coaches from his playing days inspired him to get into the profession himself.

"You want to get into stuff because of people that you look up to," he said, "and I looked up to all those people."

Kobe Watson led the way for Scott City with 26 points. The senior saved his offensive strength for the even periods, scoring 12 points in the second quarter and nine in the fourth quarter.

"Sometimes you just got to get out of the way and let great players make plays, and that's what he did," Dannenmueller said. "He's a smart player."

The previous mark of 218 wins was set in 2001. Watson’s father, Ronald Watson, played a role in getting former head coach Derek McCord to that mark a year after his graduation.

The Watsons returned to Scott City in 2023 from Murray, KY, and the Rams have compiled a 37-9 record since Kobe donned the blue and gold.

"When he came here two years ago, he was classified as a shooter," Dannenmuller said. "I told him going into this year when I went into my senior year, I was a shooter. I wanted to be known as a scorer because I wanted to be able to just put the ball in the hole anyway. I talked to him about that, and he's a scorer now, he's not just a shooter.

"He's a great player. He's fun to coach," he said. "You want your seniors to step up in big games. He welcomes that challenge, he loves the challenge."

The Rams held a slight 33-31 halftime lead over South Pemiscot, with Lowery and Watson taking turns leading the offensive strike. A 14-6 third quarter put Scott City ahead for good.

"We thought we should have been up more at halftime," Dannenmueller said. "We just felt like we didn't play well, had some silly turnovers, made some silly mistakes that we don't want to make.

"We got a lot of smart players, and we made some some boneheaded plays," he said. "I thought in the second half, we got the same shots, and we limited them more to just one shot instead of two or three on defense and then slowly pulled away."

Braeden Walson scored 13 points for Scott City, while Jaylen Rulo added nine and Max Snider and Jackson Gloth each chipped in two.

Robert Farmer led South Pemiscot with 15 points while Ty Campbell scored 14, Jaterion Smith added 10, Damarius Mayberry chipped in four, and Logan Southern and Torrell Boyd each had three points.

Scott City will host the Scott-Miss Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 1, starting with a matchup against Oak Ridge at 11:15 a.m. Chaffee will play Scott County Central at 8 a.m., East Prairie will play Kelly at 12:30 p.m., and Oran will take on Delta at 1:45 p.m.