—Submitted Photo Cal Twait (center) with his father Kevin and mother Cathy.

WAVERLY– Cal Twait will need one victory to match his dad, Kevin, for career high school football coaching victories.

He will need 338 more after his first win to match his grandpa, Duane.

Friday night when Waverly-Shell Rock opens the 2025 season at home against Bondurant-Farrar, Cal will become a third-generation head coach adding to the historic coaching history of the Twait family.

“To be honest, right when I got the job that was kind of at the forefront,” said Twait, a graduate of Manson Northwest Webster who was hired to replace Mark Hubbard last January after serving for four seasons on Hubbard’s staff after a stellar playing career at Northern Iowa. “And then it is like your mind turns to all the work you have to do, the stuff you must prepare for in the offseason and you kind of lose sight of it.

“But I do think Friday night, that will be a special thought in my head. Shoot, there’s been a Twait coaching basically since 1972.”

The Twait family coaching legacy is deep and historic.

In 39 years, starting at Pender (Nebraska) and then Hartley, Grandpa Duane won 339 games, losing just 63, including a spectacular run at Emmetsburg where he went 285-37, leading the E-Hawks to 14 state title games, winning seven of them.

Dad, Kevin, spent just one season at Storm Lake High School, winning one game in 1989 before being hired as the head coach at Buena Vista where he spent six seasons. He then landed at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge where in 22 seasons he coached the Tritons to 16 bowl games, winning 11, and posting an overall record of 140-93.

“I get to start my chapter Friday,” Cal said. “I think on a personal level it is really cool.”

Making the story even cooler is Kevin will serve as Cal’s defensive coordinator with the Go-Hawks.

“He’s been heavily involved with us and that’s been a lot of fun,” Cal said. “What is kind of cool is my grandpa Duane coached for my dad at Iowa Central for 15 years, offensive line, so its kind of the second turn with a Twait dad coaching for his son.”

Asked if his dad instincts sometimes allow him to forget who the head coach is now, Cal laughs.

“There is a funny story he likes to remind me about,” Cal smiles. “He will say the last time he was an assistant coach was in 1988 when he was the defensive coordinator for Reese Morgan at Benton Community, and you know Reese went on to win some titles at Iowa City West and then was pretty good assistant at the University of Iowa.

“So, dad, he will remind me that was the last guy he ever worked under.”

When Cal jogs onto the field Friday and calls his first play, there will be a lot of influence from both his grandpa and his dad.

Cal said his grandpa, who will be in attendance Friday, has always been a great sounding board for him.

“I guess the best piece of advice I get from him, is don’t worry about the other team so much, worry about your team and get your team ready to play,” Cal said. “You will adjust to your opponent’s schemes and stuff, but it was have your team ready, have your guys excited, keep morale high and work them hard. That is the message I’ve always gotten from him.

“His coaching philosophy was to be demanding, but make sure you keep the morale high and make sure the guys want to come back for more.”

How the Go-Hawks will play will be somewhat like how Duane Twait’s E-Hawks played.

Emmetsburg, like the Ed Thomas led Aplington-Parkersburg teams, used a quick huddle, Wing-T offense.

“We will run a variation of the Wing T, but mostly be in shotgun,” Cal said. “But it’s very similar blocking principals, a lot of down blocks, kickouts and angles. So, it is similar in more ways than different.”

To be more specific, Cal said Go-Hawk fans should expect his team to establish the run game, which he said WSR did a great job of in scrimmages against Waterloo West and Independence last Friday, while saying the Go-Hawks misfired a little bit in the pass game.

“Sometimes the box will dictate what you do, and then you have to get the ball on the perimeter and go, loosen up the box,” Twait said. “But our calling card, I think should just be overall toughness and physicality. That is something we preach in practice and want to hang our hat on.

“I mean we want to run the football and be the most physical team on the field.”

While there will be a lot of focus on himself making his coaching debut and the legacy he is following behind his grandpa and dad, Cal says the night is about more than just him.

“While it’s great for me on a personal level, we must remember there will be a ton of guys on that field with me that have invested a ton of time in this program, have done a fantastic job,” Twait said.

Finally, asked if he thinks he might one day get to 339 wins, Twait just smiles.

“Time will tell, right,” he says. “You never know, you always focus on the one ahead of you.

“I love to think that this will be a really long career for me, and I have no idea what it all looks like. I just know now I love being at Waverly-Shell Rock, I love the Go-Hawks and I’ll stay around for as long as they’ll have me and, in that time, I want to do the best job I can.”