All the doors to the Kennedy High School gym were locked last week when the boys basketball team was practicing, but it was merely to limit distractions and not hide any secrets.

New Coach Jon McKowen is perfectly willing to talk about his plans for the Cougars this season. And if all goes according to plan, they will be the Go-Go Cougars instead of the grind-it-out Cougars of the past few years.

McKowen's undefeated state champions at Ottawa High School in Kansas last season averaged approximately 74 points per game. "It is a lot of points," he acknowledged, "especially since it was a running clock most fourth quarters."

Ottawa allowed only 39 points per game en route to a perfect 25-0 record.

"If you have the guards to do it, I think any coach would play up-tempo," McKowen said. "It's more fun to coach, it's more fun to watch. And the kids are motivated by it.

"We have a great returning point guard in A.J. (Carter). And we have some amazing athletes around him who can run.

"Learning how to run, but staying under control, is going to be a process, because in the past they've played a lot slower. But the kids are eager to do it and want to do it."

McKowen succeeded Bob Fontana as head coach after Fontana returned to Ankeny, his home town, to become the coach at the new Centennial High School.

McKowen comes from a basketball family. His father, Marty McKowen, has compiled a 512-187 record in 30 years as the boys basketball coach at Wapsie Valley High School in Fairbank.

McKowen's younger brother, Brooks, rolled up 2,831 points during his prep career at Wapsie Valley and is the all-time leading scorer in state history. Brooks McKowen is the new head coach at Upper Iowa University, so there are McKowens coaching all over the place now.

Jon McKowen has already compiled a 220-56 record in 11 years as a head coach, with stops at Cedar Falls NU High and Ottawa. He likes what he's inherited at Kennedy, which finished with an 11-10 record last season.

"The kids know how to play the game, they know how to play hard," he remarked. "I'm just trying to implement some of my ideas without losing the things they used to do well.

"I can't complain about their attitude. They have absolutely a great attitude every day they come to practice."

Kennedy graduated four of its top-5 scorers from last season with Jon Koelling, Ben Struss, Blake Murdock and Patrick Martin gone. But Carter, John Bardsley, Brandon Buck, Austin Holzer, Drew Heitland, Zach Daniels, Seth Gilmore, Derek Jacobus and Cole Murdock are back with different levels of experience. Other players are in the mix as well.

"We have a lot of new guys who need to play this year, so they're trying to figure out what it takes to play at the varsity level and how to play through being mentally tired," McKowen said.

"We're doing a good job of not making the same mistake four times," he said. "We're doing it one or two times, but we're learning from our mistakes.

"They have to learn how to play fast. Playing fast isn't a jog or three-quarters of a jog. It's getting to the other end of the floor as fast as you can. And we've got some guys who can fly, so I think it can be a strength."

McKowen is implementing his system on defense as well.

"You can't lose sight of the defensive end of the floor," he stressed. "If you score in the 70's, you're giving yourself a chance to win, but if you're giving up 80, you don't give yourself any chance to win. You're going to win one out of 10 games if you're giving up 80. Once high school teams start scoring 80, you're in a lot of trouble."

Kennedy will play Xavier in the Metro Sports Report Classic this Saturday at 5 p.m. at Kirkwood Community College in a Pride Challenge event. The Cougars open the regular season on Friday, Dec. 6 against Burlington at home.