From the very first game on Nov. 21, 2017, Scott Kroeger has enjoyed a successful tenure as Montgomery County boys basketball coach.

Kroeger coached the Wildcats to four winning seasons, two Eastern Missouri Conference championships and two district crowns.

On Dec. 30, Kroeger reached a milestone. He picked up his 100th victory as Wildcats’ coach after his team cruised past the Monroe City Panthers 73-39 on the road. He now has a 100-51 record during his tenure as coach.

“That’s a cool accomplishment,” Kroeger said. “That speaks way more to the players than to me as a coach or even my assistant coaches who helped out over the years. It speaks way more to the program itself. Obviously, the kids are the ones who win the games.”

Kroeger also became the fourth MCHS coach in a span of two months to reach the 100-victory mark, joining Audra Heimer (softball), Rachel Leu (volleyball) and Joe Basinger (girls basketball). After the game, Kroeger received a wooden plaque for his accomplishment.

“It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing it long enough to coach 100 games, period,” Kroeger said. “That’s how fast time has flown. It’s really cool and it makes you really look back at all of the players you had over the years. I'm in the process of reaching out to them, sending them text messages and reconnecting with them.”

The accomplishment was part of a memorable week for Kroeger. Two days before, while his team was in Kansas City competing in the Twelve Days of Christmas Shootout, Kroeger visited with an Olathe, Kan., resident named Janet Koehler, who received his stem cells about 10 years ago.

“I donated bone marrow stem cells back in college in my sophomore year,” Kroeger said. “There was a kid on campus who had leukemia and he needed a bone marrow donor. So I got my cheek swabbed to see if my DNA matches close enough to donate. I had to choose to see if I match with him or go ahead and put my DNA in the national database. I decided that I might as well go in the national database just in case if somebody out there needs a match. I ended up matching with somebody.”

Kroeger’s wife, Lexi, set up the surprise visit.

“Lexi got on Facebook and got a hold of her (Koehler) and asked if she wanted to surprise me at the game,” said Kroeger, who got married in June. “Her husband Darryl and her two daughters met us. We actually ended up going out to dinner. So I got to know them pretty well. We had a lot of conversations. That was pretty awesome. That’s the kind of stuff my wife does all of the time. She does that for all kinds of people. She’s extremely thoughtful and she’s the best gift giver on the planet I have ever met, for sure.”

Kroeger took over the MCHS boys basketball program in 2017, replacing Ron Lebel. In his first game as coach, the Wildcats cruised past Winfield 94-68 on the road. They went on to win 21 games that season.

After winning 10 games in 2019, MCHS came back to win 25 games the following year. The Wildcats won 20 games in 2021 and 17 in 2022.

During his tenure, Kroeger won the EMO Coach of the Year and District Coach of the Year awards twice. Ten of his players earned all-EMO conference awards, three of them are brothers – Carson, Collin and Clayton Parker.

“It’s a testament to the kids who came through here,” Kroeger said. “I had a conversation with one of my founding players, Carson Parker, who kind of set the culture for our program. I gave him a shout out on Twitter because he told me congratulations there. I told him it’s about the players and the program and how they have developed and the culture they have set.”

Now, Kroeger is hoping for a successful 2023 season. 

“I think my resolution is the same as it always is and that’s to continue to improve, try to help our kiddos improve every step of the way and try to be better than they were the day before,” Kroeger said. “Ultimately, we’ll try to learn lessons that are going to carry over beyond sports. That’s what we’re really about as a program.”