Section by Section: The Coach of the Year
Our Coach of the Year in each section and in each class. And before I start this I want to be very clear, these are the coaches that I believe took their team and coached them up to be better…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingOur Coach of the Year in each section and in each class.
And before I start this I want to be very clear, these are the coaches that I believe took their team and coached them up to be better than expected. Simply winning a ton of games does not make you coach of the year. And any coach who feels disrespected that they won their section or won state and didn’t get coach of the year, that guy is being very selfish to me.
Because the best coaching job is not just winning games with most talented kids, it’s bringing them to a higher level (there is one exception, take Matt Painter at Purdue for example, he was expected to win the Big Ten and he did, so he has to be judged on how convincing it was or how dominant they were often times, which is kind of odd).
Class AAAA
Section 1: Tharen Johnson of Farmington
Section 2: Bryce Tesdahl of Minnetonka
Section 3: David Collier of Apple Valley
Section 4: Jerry Kline Jr of Cretin-Derham Hall
Section 5: Nick Schroeder of Maple Grove
Section 6: Myles Shepherd of Minneapolis Washburn
Section 7: Mike Ogorek of Coon Rapids
Section 8: Mike Pomroy of Rogers
AAAA Coach of the Year: Bryce Tesdahl of Minnetonka
“Just picking the state champ?” No. I didn’t think Minnetonka would get to state. I predicted that and then doubled down on it in writing. Why? Because I had never seen this team play tough enough defensively to do it. And guess what!?!?
Bryce Tesdahl got his team to buy into defending, playing hard, and not caring who gets what numbers. And all of his players did that and looked great in doing it individually. They bought in to defending, they bought into the system, they bought into coaching, and all the players looked better for it and won a title. That’s Coach of the Year type stuff right there.
Class AAA
Section 1: Eric Hildebrandt of Faribault
Section 2: Joe Madson of Mankato East
Section 3: Stephen Solaja of St. Paul Harding
Section 4: Keith Newman of Mahtomedi
Section 5: Nick Carroll of Totino-Grace
Section 6: Terry Techam of Delano
Section 7: Michael Holmquist of Chisago Lakes
Section 8: Brett Maass of Detroit Lakes
Before I get to Coach of the Year I think it’s important to note that Joe Hyser of Minneapolis South, Bryce Richter of Fridley and Parker Lyga of Stewartville would all be in my top ten for Class AAA top coaching jobs and maybe top five on a list. They fall into the “I didnt get to pick” whereas a couple on the list did a good job but pry wouldn’t fall in the top ten of jobs done overall.
AAA Coach of the Year: Eric Hildebrandt of Faribault
The Falcons won one game last year. ONE. They were 1-26 overall. The kids on that team learned through what I can only imagine at times was a nightmare and came back the next year to win a dozen more games than the season before. The Falcons beat teams they hadn’t beaten in years. They defeated JM late in the season after having lost to the Rockets by big numbers earlier in the year. They beat Northfield, swept Austin, won half of their league games, and although there were stinkers against a couple of the elite teams on their schedule (when they were seriously younger and out-manned), Faribault took a massive step forward. That’s the stuff I’m here for.
Class AA
Section 1: Greg Berge of Lake City
Section 2: Paul Fogarty of Belle Plaine
Section 3: Derek Webb of Montevideo
Section 4: Drew Kock of St. Croix Lutheran
Section 5: Harry Sonie of Breck
Section 6: Skip Dolan of Annandale
Section 7: Rich Spiczka of Pequot Lakes
Section 8: Jeremy Nordick of Park Rapids
I found Park Rapids fascinating and impressive in terms of team improvement and coaching a team up. The Panthers have no basketball history for the most part. The team was WINLESS in conference play in 2022-23. This was a 5-win team a year ago overall! They haven’t been to state in 54 years but played in the section title game this season. But this year Park Rapids used a veteran team to win 20 games, a 15 game improvement.
Skip Dolan! Had his team top five in state again and wasn’t even top five predicted in his section.
AA Coach of the Year: Rich Spiczka of Pequot Lakes.
Pequot Lakes just keeps coming back! This was their third straight trip to the state tournament and they did this having lost players to Bemidji State, Concordia-Moorhead and Gustavus. The Patriots returned no double digit scorers and they had only two starters back from a consolation title team at state last year, and they went and did it again! Not only that, Pequot Lakes improved on last year’s win total by a game and they weren’t even a listed top 15 team coming into the season. A top ten team all year and back to back consolation champs.
Class A
Section 1: Cameron Rutledge of Blooming Prairie
Section 2: Shane Heiderschedt of Sleepy Eye
Section 3: Chad Rauk of Hills-Beaver Creek
Section 4: Tim Herman of Heritage Christian
Section 5: Tom Riiters of Upsala
Section 6: Kraig Hunter of West Central Area
Section 7: Jordan Christianson of Cherry
Section 8: Steven Philion of Red Lake County
A Coach of the Year: Cameron Rutledge of Blooming Prairie
The Awesome Blossoms were indeed awesome this year. They went from a 4-12 league record to 15-1. They went from a 9-16 record to 28-3. They went from 19 wins the previous three years combined to being a top ten team in state for a good chunk of the year! This team has been built up for a long time and they finally were experienced enough to win games. But they won games constantly. And the one loss to Goodhue does not take away from the job that Rutledge did not just this year, but building all these years.