So when those scoreboard light bulbs last showed the Chieftains as the victor in a 61-27 sub-state win on March 3, Kraft didn’t realize another much larger number was reached.

300.

As in 300 high school victories for Kraft, who has coached THS to 127 wins in seven seasons, averaging just more than 18 triumphs a year.

The coach had forgotten until after the fact that he entered this season 15 wins shy of the hefty digit, which was reached in the first round of the postseason.

So what does that big, round number mean?

“It means I’ve coached a long time,” Kraft said in his familiar dry style.

“It’s not about the wins and losses, it’s about the progress that you make.”

Kraft has made plenty of personal advancement since starting his coaching career in 1985 at Colony-Crest, where he spent 16 years before coming to Tonganoxie. In those early stages coaching the Lancers, wins weren’t as easy to come by. Kraft was learning the ropes of the profession and had no specific long-term career goal in mind.

“When I started out, I didn’t know I’d be going this long,” he said.

Coaching adjustments

With time, Kraft started building winners. The majority of his wins, he said, have come in the past 15 years, a period during which the game has evolved.

“Girls basketball, in general, has changed,” Kraft said. “It’s forced to change. The kids are more talented — the girls are more athletic, they’re stronger.”

Those changes suited the coach’s style, which involved more up-tempo basketball and defensive pressure.

“Fortunately,” he said, “I’ve had kids who were athletic, and it doesn’t necessarily take great basketball players, but it takes some pretty athletic players to be able to play that style of ball.”

But there’s much more to winning 300 games than having athletes. Kraft had to do some teaching, and the players, in turn, had to be receptive. Plus, Kraft pointed out, it would be difficult to win much of anything without knowledgeable assistant coaches.

“That’s a big piece of the puzzle right there is getting the right people around you that understand your system and your style and can teach the kids,” he said.

THS assistant Jared Jackson said Kraft’s attention to basketball fundamentals has paid dividends.

“His teams are all so fundamentally sound,” Jackson said. “During summer camp, and at the first of every season, basic fundamentals are always stressed. By the girls’ senior year they are rolling their eyes, but they are doing everything exactly how they have been taught.”

Basketball 24-7

Kraft’s attention to detail flows into all aspects of the job. Tonganoxie aide Lindsey Graf said the little things are important to him, and that has made him successful.

“I think people see how much he cares about the kids but I don’t think they see how much time and behind-the-scene work (he puts in),” Graf said.

Kraft’s classroom is just across the sidewalk from Graf’s and she said the coach is always popping in with plays, schemes and ideas.

“His brain doesn’t really shut off when it comes to basketball,” Graf said.

THS boys basketball coach Shawn Phillips, too, has seen that up close. Phillips, in his first year at the helm, called his counterpart a “great coach” and said Kraft’s passion for the game extends far beyond the floor.

“I have 14 career wins and he has 300, yet he will still sit and talk basketball with me for literally hours after a game,” Phillips said. “He has a lot more experience, success and respect from other coaches than I do, yet he will still just sit and talk. I doubt there is much I could teach him, but I know I can learn from him.”

How many more wins?

Phillips looks forward to continued lessons from Kraft for years, and the 23-year coaching veteran is showing no signs of letting up. Although he has no specific plans for a retirement age or year, Kraft said he will know when it is time to call it a career.

“Right now, I haven’t gotten burnt out,” he said. “And I think if that ever happens, I think I’ll know when it’s time.”

Graf, for one, doesn’t think that day will come anytime soon. She saw a renewed passion in Kraft this season, when a lot of people expected Tonganoxie to struggle but the Chieftains exceeded expectations throughout and finished 15-7.

“I think he’ll be around awhile,” Graf said.

As long as Kraft is enjoying himself, expect to see him pacing the THS sideline, racking up more and more wins with a sly smile and a fire in his eyes.

“This season’s just completed and we’re already looking forward to the challenges of next season,” Kraft said. “So as long as that’s happening, I’ll probably keep doing it.”