LONGMONT — Right after Jeff Kloster earned his first win as the Longmont boys basketball head coach, way back in 1994, his wife Kris snapped a picture of him with their young toddler, Cade.
Little did they know that that simple picture, of Cade sitting on his lap, would mark the beginning of a long road to 500 wins at the same school. On Saturday afternoon, on their home court no less, the No. 9 seed Longmont boys helped their longtime, beloved coach of 28 years enter a club that so few in Colorado have been able to join when they defeated 24 seed Thompson Valley, 67-36, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the Class 4A state tournament.
This time around, Cade was at his right side as his trusted assistant.
“We started out with that little kid in my arms, being in the gym as often as I could bring him,” Jeff Kloster said. “It’s always been a family thing. I’m so thankful for the wife that I have because she is the rock. She is the one that has allowed me to do all of this in the last 28 years. And then to have that energy of Cade on the bench as a young coach who is so good for young people and such a great role model, there’s nothing more special than that.”