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John Moore, Benilde St. Margaret's

Tom Dasovich, Minnetonka

 

 

FIVE NAMED FOR 2011 INDUCTION TO MBCA HALL OF FAME 

From l to r: Howard Bahn, Carolyn Dullum, Eloise Stroud (daughters of Perry Doney), Larry Weum, Dan Brink, and Don Tangen

Read the Full Release with Inductee Bios

            The Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association has named five men who will be inducted into the MBCA Hall of Fame this October. The purpose of the MBCA Hall of Fame is to give special recognition to the people of Minnesota who have made significant contributions to promote high school basketball in the state via their achievements and service.

The 2011 inductees are:

·         Howard Bahn – Kimball

·         Dan Brink – St. Paul Central/St. Paul Como Park

·         Perry Doney – Hector/Wood Lake/Canby

·         Don Tangen – Glencoe-Silver Lake

·         Larry Weum – Robbinsdale Armstrong.    

The induction ceremonies will be held at the MBCA Hall of Fame Banquet on Sunday, October 30th, 12:00 p.m., at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis. 

FIVE NAMED FOR 2011 INDUCTION TO MBCA HALL OF HONOR

left to right:  Barry Wortel, Gary Addington, Jeff Munneke, Bill Haben Jr. (son of Bill Haben Sr.), Jim Robinson

 

Read the Full Release With Inductee Bios

The MBCA Hall of Honor has been established to honor those persons who have helped to improve/promote/ and or serve basketball in Minnesota. Honorees have been longtime supporters of their local teams or have given outstanding service to the game of basketball. Awards are given in four categories: Officials, Media, Coach - Head/Assistant, and Friend of Basketball. To be eligible for the Hall of Honor, a person must have been involved with basketball for at least 20 years. That person must be nominated by a MBCA member, the MBCA Executive Board, or the MBCA Hall of Fame committee.  

 

The following individuals will be inducted as the members of the MBCA Hall of Honor in 2011:

·         Gary Addington; Coach/Administrator

·         Bill Haben ; Coach

·         Jeff Munneke, Friend of Basketball

·         Jim Robinson, Official

·         Barry Wortel, Media

 

The honorees will be honored guests, recognized, and presented with a plaque at the MBCA Fall Clinic Awards Luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis on Friday, October 28, 2011.

Ken Novak Jr. named Coach of the Year

Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) coach named ESPN RISE Boys National Coach of the Year

Related: To see list of all-time national coach of the year honorees, CLICK HERE

Ken Novak Jr. was raised to be a high school coach.

The 54-year old mentor has taken his alma mater, Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.), to new heights, making it the team to beat in Minnesota. It’s the reason Novak Jr. is the ESPN RISE National Boys basketball Coach of the Year for 2010-11.

He’s the first coach from Minnesota to earn the national honor, which dates back to 1970.

Novak's father, Ken Sr., coached Hopkins from 1954-83, but the Minnesota Hall of Famer never celebrated a state championship. Playing for his father, Novak learned valuable coaching skills which paid dividends in his own career.

"It was definitely a positive to grow up in a coaching home," said the younger Novak. "I went on to Augsburg College (Minn.) and played two years before becoming a student-coach. Those years prepared me well for what I've done the last 32 years."

Novak started his coaching career at Blaine (Blaine, Minn.), where he served three years as an assistant before assuming the head coaching job for seven seasons.

In 1990, he returned to his alma mater to start what is a 22-year tenure as Royals' head coach. His coaching record in that span is 542-74 with six state Class 4A crowns.

This season, Hopkins won an unprecedented third straight state championship in Minnesota's largest class and was ranked No. 15 in the POWERADEFAB 50 ESPN RISE national rankings.

Before Novak arrived on the sidelines, Hopkins had won only two boys' titles, both in the early 1950's.

Ken Novak's Coaching Keys

Novak said there's no secret to successful coaching, but
he approaches it with the following perspectives:

1. Coach individuals
Don't treat players like numbers. They are different in a lot of ways.

2. Stress versatility
I want well-rounded players who can do about everything on the court. Having five players with point guard skills is a good thing.

3. Stress unseIfishness
I want players at all positions who can pass well and, when they have the ball, can see four other players on the court.  
Novak's overall 29-year head coaching record is 660-121. He hasn't limited his coaching skills to boys’ teams, either. He coached both the Royals' boys' and girls' teams for a few years and his 1995 girls squad captured a state crown.

The current Hopkins' female team also won a title this season, its third since 2004.

"We have a good program at Hopkins because our student-athletes get involved at an early age," Novak said. "They take advantage of open gymnasiums and weightlifting opportunities."

This year's 31-1 team, beat Eden Prairie (Eden Prairie, Minn.) in a rubber-match in the state final, was led by 6-foot-4 guard Joe Coleman, a Minnesota recruit and State Mr. Basketball.

Coleman, an ESPNRISE Second Team All-American, was labeled by Novak as, "The best athlete I've coached."

That list includes Joe's brother Dan, who also played at Minnesota and professionally in Europe, 2003 McDonald’s All-American Kris Humphries and Blake Hoffarber, who won an ESPY in 2005 for making a highlight reel shot in the state final against Eastview (Apple Valley, Minn.).


Dave Cresap MaxPreps 2010-11 National Male Sport Coach of the Year

Graphic by Ryan Escobar

Dave Cresap directed Perham's basketball team and community during a challenging and championship season.
Without his top player most of the season, Dave Cresap led tiny Perham (Minn.) to a 31-1 record and its first Minnesota 2A boys basketball championship.

But that’s not why Cresap was picked as the 2010-11 MaxPreps.com National Coach of the Year.

Not by a long shot.

Cresap kept an entire small but spirited community together, a region that was rocked not once but twice with startling and even tragic news during the season.

This wasn’t a coaching award only, but also recognition for true leadership in a region that needed him most. This extended far beyond the basketball court.
 
Dave Cresap earned praise by posting a 31-1 record at Perham. But his ability to guide his school, and his town, through tragedy is what earned him the MaxPreps Male
Coach of the Year award.

Leading scorer and ever-popular Zach Gabbard went down with a heart ailment midway through the first half of the team’s 11th game. He clung to life that night, the rest of the season and finally joined the squad in the locker room during the playoffs.

When Gabbard’s life was in peril, many bloodshot eyes looked to Cresap for answers. The 16-year coach who had just turned 50 had been awake with Gabbard’s family for close to 100 hours. Teens at school were searching for reasons why their 17-year-old peer and basketball star — seemingly in impeccable shape — could suddenly be fighting for his life.

"I honestly didn't know what to say," Cresap recalled. "I definitely could have crumbled. But thank the good Lord, a light bulb went off inside and I told them I would be there for them, that we would get through this … together."

The community rallied, reached out nationwide and raised more than $100,000 to defray medical costs for the Gabbard family.

Cresap also got the Yellowjackets focused and organized on the court. They played with a purpose. Scoring duties were divvied up. Motivation – even against lesser opponents – was never an issue.

Team huddles were broken with "one clap for Zach," and much like the Marine call of "leave no wounded behind," Cresap started a "Put Zach on our back" credo.

"The thing is, we knew every day that Zach was fighting for his life so the least we could do was fight on and fight through adversity on the court for an hour or two a day," said Jordan Cresap, Dave’s son who took Zach’s place in the starting lineup.

The final week of the season, Perham’s community was rocked again with news of the murder of a fellow student Tabitha Belmonte, 16, who was shot numerous times by her boyfriend Dylan Cox, who fatally shot himself.

Many of the players knew Belmonte.

"We got on the team bus (to go to state championship game at the Target Center in Minneapolis) and discussed it," coach Cresap said. "The kids got to talk to each other about her, about what happened. We'd been through so much all season. We eventually refocused on Zach and the game, and as always, they responded."

It wasn't the prettiest of victories, a 45-37 victory over Lourdes (Rochester, Minn.) in the championship — but then again, nothing about the season was tied with a red bow.

Gabbard, who was hoping to attend the game, had to watch from a hospital bed.

"He was just a little worn out," Cresap said that day. “He couldn't get out of bed. His doctor said he needed to rest today. We called and asked for his will and his strength, and he gave it to us and we were able to persevere and win a state championship for him."
“It feels good for me, but you know what? It goes out to the kids,” he said. “The kids do all the work. I’m happy for it, but I want all the honors to go to those kids.”

Cresap’s larger-than-coaching season helped him outscore many more well-known and prominent coaches of high-profile teams. Such as:

2010 -2011 MBCA Awards

State Coach of the Year Section Coaches of the Year
Academic Individual Academic Team

Coaches vs. Cancer: A Minnesota Success Story

Posted by John Millea (jmillea@mshsl.org)- Updated 3/21/2011 12:11:01 PM

“Oh coach, you look so cute in pink!”

The compliment came from a smiling elementary student, and Ellsworth High School boys basketball coach Tyler Morris smiled right back. He was wearing a white shirt, pink tie and pink sweater vest on this special Saturday in January.

Pink, in fact, was the color of the day because it was Coaches vs. Cancer night in Ellsworth. The occasion was a boys basketball game; the Ellsworth Panthers have a reputation for excellence in the sport, winning Class 1A state titles in 2007 and 2008 and finishing second at state in 2003, 2006 and 2009.

One of the smallest schools in Minnesota with an enrollment of only 61 students in grades nine through 12, Ellsworth (Morris is pictured at right) also has become a champion at raising funds to fight cancer. In 2010, Ellworth’s Coaches vs. Cancer event brought in more than $1,500. This year, the total was more than $2,200. For such a small school in a rural southwestern Minnesota community of approximately 500 people, those are amazing numbers. Read the Rest of the Story

MNBASKETBALLHUB.COM

TST media and the Star Tribune announce MNBasketballhub.com A one stop site for complete coverage and scores of ALL Prep basketball in Minnesota.

2010 - 11 Coaches MBCA Awards Timeline

MBCA Teams Up with the American Cancer Society for Coaches vs. Cancer

The Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association has selected the weeks of January 24-29 and January 30-February 5 as MBCA Coaches vs. Cancer weeks for High School basketball in Minnesota. Schools may choose dates that lie outside these two weeks if they choose to do so.

Coaches vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The initiative was established to increase cancer awareness and promote healthy living through year-round efforts, fundraising activities and advocacy programs in support of the Society’s mission to eliminate cancer.

Introduction Letter          Coaches vs. Cancer Toolkit

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