Neligh-Oakdale Coach Earns Platinum Level Award

Even though Rick Eickholt isn’t Neligh-Oakdale’s head cross county coach anymore, he is still bringing home the hardware.

Eickholt is the most recent recipient of the Jerry Stein Award through the Nebraska Coaches Association, which recognizes different levels of achievement in individual sports such as wrestling and track. The Jerry Stein Award is a platinum level award  — the highest possible level — and the scoring is based on meet championships or runner-up finishes. The number of years of the coach’s tenure is also factored in. 

“To me, I think this award shows consistency for our program,” he said. “It tells that we aren’t competitive for one or two years, but we are always going to show up and compete well.”  

Eickholt said he was updating information at the end of the year when he noticed he was eligible for the award. He informed Activities Director Ron Beacom about the possibility of receiving the honor, and Beacom nominated Eickholt.

When Eickholt received the gold level award years back, he said the platinum award was in the back of his mind. He didn’t know if it would be possible, but goal setting is a huge part of Eickholt’s team programs. 

“In the back of my mind, it was always a goal,” he said. “It wasn’t something that I had to do, but I knew it was always there.”

Eickholt said while there are many people to thank, he especially wanted to recognize his high school coach, Phil Hummel and fellow coach, Terry Trautman.

He said Hummel was a huge influence on him going into education and coaching and was also a fantastic role model. 

“When I first got into coaching, he told me to surround myself with good people, and that means kids and coaches,” Eickholt said. “I feel very fortunate that I have been able to do that.”

For the 30-plus years that he has been coaching, he said Trautman has been a huge part of all the success and everything the teams have accomplished.

“Coach Trautman has been a rock,” Eickholt said. “He has been there for everything and I can’t thank him enough.”

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