New Softball Coach

Greta Dillinger, Intro to Journalism Student

For the 2023 softball season, North Polk High School has hired a new head softball coach, Rick Dillinger, who has coached for a total of 47 years with 32 of those years at North Polk.

Dillinger comes back to North Polk with winning on his mind. In his past season with the Comets, he has a 69 percent winning record in 32 years. Not to mention the three state championships, 12 conference championships, and developing players’ skills.

“I look forward to getting to know the players and making them better people,” said Dillinger. “We always set very high standards for this program and expect nothing less than success.”

Dillinger took the time and shared his favorite memories with North Polk during his past seasons. 

“I enjoy seeing players get excited after getting some sort of success,” expressed Dillinger. “This could mean getting out of a hitting slump, making a tough play, all kinds of examples.”

Directly from his resume, Dillinger has coached at four schools, one of them being the University of Iowa. Before that though, he coached at North Polk High School and earned two state titles out of the 11 state appearances. He came out of retirement to coach North Polk softball once again.

“I expect us to compete at a high level, have a lot of fun, and we’re going to have success,” explained Dillinger.

When he was not coaching at the high school level, he went and was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa.

“It feels like high school has a purity and college feels more like a business sometimes,” shared Dillinger. “

Dillinger was even inducted into the Softball Hall of Fame Committee in 2015. Before that though, he was in the Coaches Association six different times. Two of them being the District Softball Coach of the Year.

“I’m ready to get to work and see this program succeed,” exclaimed Dillinger, “Go Comets!”