Larry Niemeyer has a strict “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy at Jefferson High School.

Don’t ask when he’s going to retire, because he won’t tell you.

“I get tired of people walking up and saying, ‘When are you going to retire?’” Niemeyer remarked during an interview. “My comment is, ‘When the hell are you going to retire?’”

He’s thought about getting a ballcap with writing on the bill to forestall queries. ”I’m going to put up here, ‘Don’t ask,’” he claimed, but said his wife won’t let him.

And don’t bother asking how old he is. “What’s that got to do with anything?” he said. “If I were 50, nobody would put that in the paper.”

For the record, the 70-something head coach was not being ornery or cantankerous. He simply things age — and coaching longevity — have nothing to do with what he’s trying to accomplish with the Jefferson girls’ basketball team this season.

This is Niemeyer’s 33rd year at Jefferson and his 51st year overall as a girls’ basketball coach. It’s been a remarkable career, with a 520-232 record at Jeff (including the 1993 state title) and an 854-323 mark overall. And last summer, he became the first prep softball coach in the country with 2,000 wins.

He insisted all of those accomplishments have nothing to do with this year. He said the J-Hawks will be young and not very deep, which is why he’s looking forward to another campaign.

“Why am I still doing this?,” he said. “But see, this will be a fun season for me. Because I enjoy practice, probably more than the games. And most guys go the other route. They hate to practice, they love the games.

“And it will be fun,” he said, “just to see how much improvement we can make. That’s a challenge.”

Jefferson finished 12-10 last season and 8-8 in the Mississippi Valley Conference. The J-Hawks graduated five seniors, including Alex Jacobson (12.5 ppg) and Morgan Allee (9.5 ppg), but they have a potentially potent 1-2 punch in Britteny Steffeny and Taylor Jacobson, both of whom averaged 10.5 points last year.

“Ever since freshman year I’ve kind of had some of the pressure on me to be a leader,” said Steffeny, a 5-foot-10 center. “And this year I feel like I need to step up even more, just because I’m one of the only seniors on the team. And I know a lot of the younger girls do look up to me for that leadership role. That’s fine. I think I can handle it.”

Taylor Jacobson was one of those “younger girls” last season as a freshman, but she’s an experienced sophomore now after shooting 52.7 percent from the field as a rookie.

“I was surprised that I did that good,” said Jacobson, a 5-9 forward.

“She really, really played well, and might have been our best overall player,” Niemeyer added.

Jacobson had her older sister, Alex, on the team last year to help guide her, but Alex is playing softball at Rockhurst College now. Taylor said it was fun playing on the same team with Alex, but also a little strange.

“It was weird, because she couldn’t yell at me when I got home, because that would just cause drama,” Taylor said.

Rachel Broghammer, a 5-9 forward, averaged 6.1 points as a freshman and could be another key player for the J-Hawks.

“We’re going to be awfully young,” said Niemeyer, who has eight sophomores on the team. “Scoring will be a problem. A lot will depend on how much better we get.”

“I’m excited,” Jacobson said. “I’ve been practicing all summer and I’ve been ready for it. We’re a really young team, and there’s not that many of us. We’ll have to work at it to get better. But just because we have low numbers, it doesn’t mean we can’t be good.”

Steffeny has high hopes.

“A winning season, for sure,” she said. “State would just be the icing on top of that cake of a winning season.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’ve been ready for it since we finished the season last year.”

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ROSTER

Seniors (3)

Ashley Madsen (5-6), Britteny Steffeny (5-10), Miranda Grissom (6-0).

Juniors (0)

Sophomores (9)

Kaitlyn Davidson (5-6), Alleigha Green (5-6), Dani Stromert (5-4), Amber Grimm (5-6), Isha Morrison (5-3), Rachel Broghammer (5-9), Taylor Jacobson (5-9), Whylie Massey (5-7), Maddie Koolbeck (5-10).

Freshmen (2)

Maddy Blietz (5-6), Kiely Bratwaite (5-9).

SCHEDULE

Saturday, Nov. 27 — at Bettendorf, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 30 — at Cedar Falls, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 3 — Prairie, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 4 — at Keokuk, 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 7 — at Linn-Mar, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 10 — at Iowa City High, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 11 — at MFL MarMac, 3 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 14 — Dubuque Hempstead, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 17 — at Washington, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 4 — at Dubuque Senior, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 7 — Iowa City West, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 11 — Waterloo West, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 14 — at Kennedy, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 18 — Davenport Central, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 21 — Xavier, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 25 — Dubuque Wahlert, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 28 — Washington, 6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 29 — Clinton, 2:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 4 — at Iowa City West, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 8 — at Waterloo East, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 11 — Kennedy, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 16 — Regional, TBD