Aaron Bohr's farewell to Lone Tree football is an emotional goodbye

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 4/30/22

Sometimes the next move just makes sense.

Aaron Bohr, the head football coach at Lone Tree High School, lives in North Liberty with his family. His wife works in Cedar Rapids. He has extended …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Aaron Bohr's farewell to Lone Tree football is an emotional goodbye

Posted

Sometimes the next move just makes sense.

Aaron Bohr, the head football coach at Lone Tree High School, lives in North Liberty with his family. His wife works in Cedar Rapids. He has extended family in northeast Iowa.

But when Bohr recently chose to leave Lone Tree and become the freshman football coach and a special education teacher at Center Point-Urbana High School beginning next fall, the personal emotions cut deep.

So let’s start this story by turning the calendar back about seven years.

Bohr arrived in Lone Tree in 2015 as a football assistant coach under Chad Shield. The Lions would soon move from 11-man football to 8-man football. They won eight games in both 2017 and 2018. The Lions defeated English Valleys by 81 points in 2017, just one victory in a run during which Lone Tree won seven consecutive games. They won their first five games a year later and wound up in the playoffs. In 2019, the Lions defeated New London by six points and gave Bohr a Gatorade bath.

Those are memories that will never go away. And they made it tough for Bohr to say goodbye in a meeting with his football Lions.

“It was real emotional,” he said. “I couldn’t keep it together at all when I talked to the guys. I was a wreck.”

The thing is, Bohr never expected to stay at Lone Tree for this long. It was a stepping stone job. But Lone Tree doesn’t work that way. The place tugs at your heart.

“When I first came to Lone Tree, I thought it would only be a one- or two-year commitment,” Bohr said. “I just fell in love with the community, in love with the people. Everybody’s been so good to me and my family.”

He arrived as an assistant coach. He leaves as a head coach with Shield running the defense for a coach he helped hire in 2015.

“I knew he would be a good fit at Lone Tree,” Shield said. “He has a great football mind, put in an unbelievable amount of time watching film and had good rapport with the student-athletes. He brought some really fun things to the program such as weekly candy bar awards and also the Olympics with medals during fall camp.”

And now, after all of that, it was decision time for a coach and his family.

“Seven years later, it’s probably the most difficult decision I ever had to make in my life,” Bohr said.

No, this wasn’t easy.

Even if it does make sense. Eventually, the Bohrs hope to make a home in the Cedar Rapids area, where his wife works, and not far from Center Point-Urbana High School. As it is now, Aaron heads south to Lone Tree every morning and his wife heads north.

“We wanted to be in a community where our kids could grow up, I could teach in town,” he said. “Not 30 miles in opposite direction.”

Bohr's appointment was approved by CP-U's School Board on April 13.

Still, the relationships remain in Lone Tree. They will never disappear.

“It was always a treat to be around the guys and everybody was always very supportive,” Bohr said. “We definitely had some really good teams, too. It’s tough to leave it behind, but it’s one of those things, I’m kind of moving on to the next chapter in my life, so to speak.”

The next move is a bigger school, Center Point-Urbana, which competes in Class 3A in football against such schools as 3A state quarterfinalist West Delaware. The freshmen coached by Bohr will be molded into young men ready for varsity football and life.

Just like at Lone Tree.

“I believe he has a great career ahead of him and look forward to following his next step,” Shield said. “He’s been a good friend and I think him for his time at Lone Tree.”

Those words really mean something because Cade Shield, the Lions’ senior quarterback last fall running an offense coached by Bohr, is Chad Shield’s son.

Another memory, for sure.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul.

Lone Tree, football, Aaron Bohr, Center Point-Urbana