We’ve named the coach of the year going back to the 19th century. Who will it be in 2024? Well, it will be one of the following ten coaches, listed here in alpha order. For many of these coaches, there’s more info about their teams in our Team of the Year post.
Tim Bergstrasser, Minnesota State Moorhead men 25-6. The Dragons started 15-0 and got as high as #3 nationally. They lost just 81-78 at Mankato late in the year. Point guard Jacob Beeninga from Wayzata led the way with 16 ppg and 3 assists.
Aaron Boyum, Albany high school girls 30-2. Led the Huskies to 2 straight Class AA finals, only to lose both times to that private school juggernaut from Providence. This time, they led much of the way and lost 81-78. I can’t hold a loss by a public school to a private school agin’ ’em because the rules of the game are so different for the two categories of schools.
Brian Cosgriff, Minnetonka girls 29-2. Won his 8th state title, and his 1st at Tonka.
Chris Finch, Minnesota Timberwolves 65-33 counting regular season and playoffs. The most unlikely coaching performance almost forever was Finch remaking the Wolves as the NBA’s best defensive team. Just a year or two ago the Wolves reputation was as one of the worst. Truly amazing.
Ben Johnson, Minnesota Gopher men 19-15. You might have noticed that Ben’s team didn’t make the finals for Team of the Year, but here he is as one of the top ten coaches. Well, Johnson and his Gophers face huge odds against their success, and the odds have gotten worse with the NIL and the transfer portal. Minnesota cannot compete for talent now that it comes down to dollars and cents. Today’s generation of players love change, but even better are a stack of nice crisp thousand dollar bills. What I don’t get is how do the college’s smart guys expect fans to stay loyal to their team when the players are not? Well, Ben swum upstream last year to the tune of 19-15 and 9-11 in the Big 10. He almost pulled off a winning record in the Big 10, which would be nothing short of a miracle.
Matt Marganthaler, Minnesota State Mankato men 35-2. Won the NCAA D2 national title in his 25th try!
Don Mulhern, St. Catherine’s 19-8. The Katies finished 3rd in the MIAC at 14-6, went 19-8 overall, and won a playoff game. All of those things are nearly miraculous. I mean, I come to praise St. Cate’s, not to bury them. But they’ve had precious little success on the basketball court, ever. This Mulhern fellow can coach. Before working his magic at St. Cates, he built UW Superior into a powerhouse. But returning to 2024, the MIAC made him coach of the year over some pretty good competition.
Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx 30-10 and ?. Just a couple days ago, I wrote at length about the wholesale roster changes engineered by general manager Reeve and about the success that this dramatically new and different roster has had under coach Reeve. I’ve got nothing more to add right now, so look it up.
Bryce Tesdahl, Minnetonka boys 25-6. You can read more about Tesdahl’s team in my Team of the Year post.
Emilee Thiesse, Minnesota State Mankato women 32-5. Again, there’s more in the Team of the Year post, and not much more to add here, except that Thiesse played at Nebraska-Kearney and her sister Amy Williams is the Nebraska women’s head coach.
So one of these ten will be our Coach of the Year, to be announced next week after the Lynx season is concluded.
