Two coaches, three players from same family part of resurgence for Hamlin hoops

HAYTI — Maybe in this modern age of being a parent of high school basketball players, it's Todd and Jaime Neuendorf who have figured it out the best.

After all, traveling to your kids' games is a lot easier if you can just take the team bus.

That's the way it's been the last three years for the Neuendorfs at Hamlin High School. Todd is in his 18th season as a head coach this winter, guiding the Chargers' high-flying boys basketball team that is hoping to challenge for the school's first state title in 41 years and features a talented junior point guard by the name of Easton Neuendorf, the coach's son.

Jaime is an assistant on Hamlin's girls basketball team, the defending state Class A champions who feature 5-6 sophomore guard Addison Neuendorf and younger sister Paxton, a 5-4 seventh-grader and first-year varsity performer.

In all, that's five Neuendorfs (two parents and three siblings) and a lot of basketball.

"You know, we're lucky if we get to sit down as a family to eat because we're all going different directions with practice, scouting and games," Jaime Neuendorf said. "Maybe on a Sunday, we can sit down and eat together but we try not to bring it (the basketball) home. Once you leave the gym, we want to leave it there and separate the two as much as we can."

That's likely easier said than done. Athletics is definitely a big thing for the family and it's mainly basketball, although Easton kicked for Hamlin's football team this fall, Addison also plays volleyball and Paxton also plays volleyball and competes in rodeo.

The man behind it all

There weren't a lot of highlights in Todd Neuendorf's high school basketball career in Watertown. The 1990 Watertown High School graduate and son of Ken and Patty Neuendorf, was a 5-foot-10 guard who admittedly was "probably the 12th man" on an Arrow team he says was much better in their younger years than they were at the varsity level. Arrow fans might remember Heath Rylance as a key member of the team along with players Chad Arnold and Sam Wilson.

When people talk about that team, Neuendorf likely wouldn't be part of the discussion.

"I wasn't very good," Todd Neuendorf said, but his days as a a reserve sparked a basketball coaching career that has reached its 29th year.

Neuendorf said he became intrigued in practice when he and his fellow scout-team players got to learn the ins-and-outs of opponents' offenses to help prepare the regulars for the next game. He later coached a group of Watertown sixth graders that included players like Justin Struckman and Spencer Waite.

He's been on the sidelines pretty much ever since. He entered this week with a 285-134 career record as a head coach.

"I really like the X's and O's part of it," he said. "I was going to be an accountant but they told me I wouldn't be able to be an accountant and still coach so I decided I'd become a teacher so I could coach."

As a sophomore at Northern State, Neuendorf approached Aberdeen Central head boys basketball coach Terry Small and asked him if he could become a volunteer assistant with the Golden Eagles. He later spent 11 years as an assistant at Aberdeen Central, 11 years as a head coach at Aberdeen Roncalli and four more years as a head coach at Mitchell before moving closer to home with Hamlin.

Meeting the better half

During his time at Aberdeen Central, Neuendorf got to learn the ropes from Small, current O'Gorman head boys basketball coach Derek Robey and girls coaching legend Dawn Seiler. He also met and coached with a 1999 Aberdeen Central graduate named Jaime Rice.

South Dakota's girls basketball season was held in the fall when Robey asked Todd Neuendorf if he could help coach the Golden Eagles' freshman girls basketball team. He said he would if they'd find a female assistant. That turned out to be Rice, who later became Neuendorf's wife.

The Neuendorf-Rice combination served on Aberdeen Central girls basketball teams under Seiler that compiled state Class AA runner-up finishes in both 2003 and 2004.

Todd Neuendorf eventually moved across town to become Roncalli's head boys coach and helped the Cavaliers qualify for the state Class A tournament eight times in 11 years. The highlight came in 2015 when the Cavaliers beat Dell Rapids 53-50 for its second state title and first since 1975.

Jaime didn't immediately follow Todd to Roncalli, instead taking a teaching job in Frederick where she served as the school's head volleyball coach from 2005-09. She later spent five years as an assitant girls basketball coach at Roncalli under Derek Larson.

The call of the Eastern South Dakota Conference came for the Neuendorfs in 2018 when they moved to Mitchell. Todd spearheaded a sort of a revival for Mitchell's boys basektball team, leading the Kernels to the 2021 state AA tourney (Mitchell's first since 2012) and Jaime worked as an assistant for the girls.

"I really have no desire to be a head coach again because there's just so much time involved," Jaime Neuendorf said. "There's just a lot less responsibility and I wanted to be to able to be around if one of the kids was sick."

With the kids getting older and moving up the athletic ranks, and Todd's folks also getting older and needing some help on the farm on S.D. Highway 212 in Watertown, an opportunity to coach closer to home (Hamlin) came up. They couldn't refuse.

"Mitchell was going in the right direction and I hated to leave, but I knew I might not have the opportunity to get closer to Watertown again," Todd Neuendorf said. "We definitely made the right decision. With mom and dad's health not great, they've needed us around."

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The oldest of the siblings

Another benefit for Todd's parents has been the opportunity to watch their grandchildren perform. They've had little to be disappointed about.

Easton stepped in right away as a freshman on a Hamlin team that went from 11-10 in 2020-21 to 15-7 in 2021-22.

"I was excited but a little gun shy about the move because I had some really good buddies in Mitchell," Easton Neuendorf said. "Our team was pretty good and I got along with them. I was a little nervous to have a new start, but I guess it's all worked out."

An even bigger step came last winter when the Chargers went 21-4 and qualified for the state Class A tourney for the first time in 30 years. The Chargers lost to Dakota Valley, which completed a second-straight unbeaten season by repeating as the champion.

Hamlin, a team with only two seniors and a star-studded junior class, is currently ranked No. 2 in the state with a 16-3. The Chargers have lost two close games to No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian and another to a a No. 1-rated team from Tennessee (Cordova). Christian is 17-0 and Cordova 26-1.

Easton Neuendorf, a returning Class A All-State third team honoree, is the facilitator for an offense that at times has looked almost unstoppable. He's averaging 15.8 points, 7.2 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game and sets the pace for a team that likes to push the ball, move it around and find any one of a number of shooters capable of draining shots. He's scored 852 points in his career and is the all-time leader in Hamlin program history with more than 365 assists, all with more than a season remaining.

If you watch Hamlin's boys and Hamlin's girls, you'll pretty much see the same full-bore effort and all-around capability from both Easton and his sister Addison.

"When I got the Roncalli, I took Easton in a little car seat. From the word go, he's been in every gym that we've ever been in. It's been much the same with Addison. The gym has been their babysitter. They'd just come with us to practice. They weren't going to make the band, so they had to work on basketball."

The Neuendorf parents admit that all the time spent following and watching basketball has rubbed off and that it isn't hard to see the two oldest kids are like "coaches on the floor."

More: Hamlin's state champion girls basketball team: "These kids are amazing!"

The middle child also has some skills

Like Easton, Addison has stepped right in from the moment she set foot at Hamlin High School. The year before she arrived, coach Tim Koisti's Chargers went 22-3 before falling to Northeast Conference rival Aberdeen Roncalli 48-41 in the 2020-21 state Class A championship game in the Watertown Civic Arena.

Some graduation losses were offset by the arrival of Addison, a talented eight-grade guard who helped guide the Chargers to a 23-3 season that ended with another loss in the state championship game in 2022. Hamlin lost to St. Thomas More 52-30 at Brookings.

Last winter, Addison was a freshman starter and third-team Class A All-State selection on the Chargers' team that completed a perfect 25-0 season with a 58-55 win over Wagner in the Watertown Civic Arena. The title was Hamlin's first since 2005.

Cousins Kami Wadsworth and Ally Abraham formed a potent inside duo for Hamlin and their graduation losses meant the Chargers had to become a team that is much more dependent on its perimiter play. Addison, a 5-6 guard, is averaging better than 20 points per game and also is well on her way to surpassing the 1,000-point mark for her career (898). She also has 284 career assists, including a school-record 125 in her eighth-grade season.

Hamlin is currently 12-7, but isn't giving up hope of getting a chance to defend its title.

"It's been a lot harder obviously without Kami and Ally, but we've started working together better as a team," Addison Neuendorf said. "The younger girls are stepping up and settling into their roles."

Let's not forget about younger sis

Another new situation for Addison this winter has been the addition of younger sister Paxton to the Hamlin varsity. Only a seventh-grader, she one of the team's top reserves and can't be overlooked despite her 5-4 size.

Addison isn't afraid to be vocal with her teammates as a means of helping them become better. One of those teammates this season happens to come from the same home.

"It's hard, but it's also been fun," Addison Neuendorf said of leading her younger sister. "I try to help her but she doesn't like the criticism. She thinks I'm mad at her, but I just want her to be as good as she can be."

If you watch Paxton, you will see there's still basketball talent there but in sort of a different kind of way than her older siblings.

"She's a different cat," her father said. "She's competitive and she wants to win. She's loves basketball and also plays volleyball, but she also loves to spend time with her two horses on the side."

"Of the three of us, I have always been the one to do my own thing," Paxton Neuendorf said. "I like basketball, but I enjoy things off the court as well."

The younger Neuendorf admits it's been a learning experience getting to play varsity basketball with her older sister and also with mom along for the ride in an additional role.

"She keeps me going. She has high expectations so she is always pushing myself and the team," Paxton said. "At times, it can be hard to seperate coach from mom. It's definitely been a learning process."

The family's basketball journey far from over

Don't think for a second that the Neuendorf's time on the basketball court is going to end anytime soon. Both Easton and Addison have additional years of high school ball left and are definitely entertaining and attracting college offers.

Addison and her mother joined her father with state championship trophies last winter and it's definitely something Easton wouldn't mind putting in his list of accomplishments.

"Most of the guys that play are juniors except for senior Tyson (Stevenson) and sophomore Jackson (Wadsworth), but we always get told by my dad that next year's not a guarantee and that we just have to take each year by the year and control what you can control," Easton Neuendorf said. "If we meet Sioux Falls Christian again, we'll definitely be ready to go."

Certainly, there's always things that are different for coaches who coach their children. It's easy for some fans to question if the coach's son or daughter is receiving preferential treatment, especially when they make a mistake or two.

In this case, there's no need for Hamlin's basketball coaches to explain why Easton and Addison play such important roles or even Paxton continues to keep making her presence felt more and more as the season progressed.

"I will say this for every turnover Easton has it would be like four or five times that because people are betting if the coach's kid is going to come our or not," Todd Neuendorf said. "It's probably tougher for him than it is for me because if he messes up out on the floor it's going to come back to me or his mom.

"It's hard. It's definitely hard, but I wouldn't give it up for the world. I've coached everybody else's kid and I've always said I'm going to coach my own. I trust him out there that's he's going to make a play. It's easier to coach him then to watch Addie or Paxton from the sidelines and not have any say in what's going on."

All in all, it's been a basketball-centered life that has worked at well for the Neuendorfs.

"We can't complain," Jaime Neuendorf said. "Addison's played in two state championship games (winning one) and Easton got to the state tournament. And Todd won at Roncalli. Basketball has been good to us."

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Hamlin High School's Neuendorfs and their life in basketball