Class AA: New Coaches
There were 27 jobs open at the Class AA level this year and today Northstar Hoops runs through the list of the known hires so far.
Brad Barber (Breck). Barber has been an assistant for Breck on a few different occasions and after serving as interim coach last year Barber is the new head coach.
Jim Bentson (Pillager). Bentson has coached several sports over his many years at Pillager and is now the head basketball coach.
Khamprasong “Air” Chantharak (Tri City United). Air comes to Tri City United from Sibley East where he was an assistant in many sports. He is from Mountain Lake, Minnesota.
Yusef Davis (Charter Stars).
Matt Draeger (Litchfield). Matt was an assistant at Litchfield for 18 years under Coach Carlson and has now taken over the job as head coach.
Adam Girtman (Stewartville). A former coach at Triton and a former player at Minnesota-Morris.
Ahmil Jihad (Minneapolis Edison). Jahid has coached girls at Minneapolis South, he’s coached the Howard Pulley Panthers, been an assistant at several schools, and now Edison is lucky to add him.
Kent Janikula (Watertown-Mayer). A long time assistant at Watertown-Mayer steps into the head coaching spot to move the program forward in the post Trae Berhow era.
Kory Kiekhoefer (New Life Academy). A former New Life Academy player that has spent time coaching at Bethany and the Crossfire.
Brad King (Caledonia). Brad King has long ran local businesses in Caledonia while being a youth coach for his three sons and then being a varsity assistant. He moves into the head coaching job with his sons Owen and Noah leading the way.
John Madsen (LCWM). A teacher, baseball coach, and basketball coach all these years Madsen steps back into the basketball head job.
Thomas Mitchell (Duluth Marshall),
David Norris (Rochester Lourdes). Norris played college basketball in California and is from LA. He has been coaching at Rochester Century the past few years and is now the Lourdes head man. He is also the first black head coach on the boys side in the Hiawatha Valley League.
Milton Papgeorge (Shattuck-Saint Marys). Listed as the head coach Milton has been at the school for several years in various roles.
Cory Schlagel (Albany). Was previously the head coach and is now listed as the new Albany coach.
Robert Ware (Maranatha Christian). Ware played at Minneapolis Henry during the title years, ran track at NDSU, coached at Crown, Minnetonka, and Totino-Grace, and is now the head coach and an administrator at Maranatha. Also runs Real Athletics.
Derek Webb (Montevideo). Teacher in the area and now the head coach of the program.
Rich Zellmer (Math & Science Academy).
TBD (Medford).
TBD (Windom Area).
TBD (Academy for Science & Agriculture).
TBD (Trinity).
TBD (FAIR School).
TBD (International School).
TBD (Wellstone International).
TBD (International Falls).