Writer Roger Merriam focuses on the top high school coaches he's worked with in Watertown
Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam has been compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December of 1984. This story is a play off that and is called "30 Favorites", taking a look at 30 or more of the best high school coaches he's worked with during his tenure.
There are so, so many coaches I need to thank for all of their cooperation in helping me do my job all these years.
I apologize to anybody I left out. I had to stay away from some current coaches who haven't coached that long. Like my "20 Favorites" stories, I've combined some coaches together, so, yes the list is greater than 30. Again don't pay attention to the order, except for the top few spots.
Well, here it goes:
30. Watertown Assistants
There have been a ton of Watertown High School assistants, club middle school coaches through the years who have been so helpful. The group includes Nick Kranz, Matti Kranz, Chris Jacobsen, Gregg Struwe, Mitch Johnson, Jeff Planteen, Tony Beste, Ryan Neale, Monte Waite, Virg Polak, Tom Mattingly, Bill Weber, Kelly O'Connor, Matt Paulson and Brady Lunde, among many others.
Johnson, Planteen, Beste, Paulson and Neale also coached Watertown Post 17's American Legion baseball team during my tenure and Weber had a lot of success as a head football coach for Rosholt and Veblen-Rosholt. Polak was a long-time WHS football assistant who fired up the team with his speeches. Mattingly coached almost every sport, including a stint of the Arrows head girls basketball coach.
29. John Brown, Marv Bohnet, Mike Knust, Brent Wookey & Corey Neale
Let's start with five coaches who I've spent a lot of time working with in the sport of golf. Brown was a great high school and college basketball player who coached a lot of sports before leading the Clark (Clark-Willow) girls golf team to seven straight Class B titles 2004-2010 (a state record).
Bohnet coached Hamlin’s golf teams from 1975 through 2005 and led the Charger girls to state B titles in 1987 and 1988 and four runner-up finishes and Hamlin's boys to three runner-up finishes.
Knust, who was taught by my grandmother in grade school at Alpena, helped start and develop a strong golf program at Deubrook before passing away unexpectedly in 2015.
Corey Neale, who led Watertown's boys to their first state golf title since 1971 in October, and Brent Wookey are two of the Arrow' golf coaches I've spent the most time working with. Wookey led the Arrows to a state AA runner-up finish in 2002.
28. James Benning, Eric Townsend, Brian Tvedt & Don Ray
The connection here is they are cross country coaches, as well as track and field coaches.
Benning guided Estelline's boys to four runner-up state Class B finishes in cross country from 2006 to 2012. Townsend directed strong programs in both sports for Milbank, that included state Class A runner-up finishes in track in both 2021 and 2022. Tvedt has enjoyed the team success, but has coached a number of talented runners.
Ray coached Deubrook to Class B boys' cross country titles in 1996 and 1997 and Deubrook Area's girls to a State B cross country title in 2018.
Let's also mention Rachelle DeBoer, who led Deubrook Area's girls to state B track titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
27. Krista Dailey and Casie King
Competitive cheer became sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association in 2007 and these two coaches have been very successful.
Dailey, who coached Watertown's cheer squad from 2007-2017, led Watertown to state AA titles in 2009 and 2013 state runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2011 and Eastern South Dakota Conference titles in 2008 and 2010.
King has led Sioux Valley to 17 consecutive state Class A cheer titles.
26. Greg Diersen and Jeff Roloff
Great Plains Lutheran deserves mention on this list and these two had the biggest combination of success and years.
Diersen arrived at GPL in 1997 and became the school's head cross country coach in 1999, the same year the Panther boys finishes second in the state B tournament. He continued coaching cross country and track at GPL into the 2010s before becoming a track coach and later cross country coach at Martin Luther College.
GPL's football team has had only three coaches in its 21-year history and Roloff served from 2007-2015. During that time, the Panthers made the playoffs three times (2007, 2008 and 2011) and made their fourth-ever playoff appearance this fall.
More: Mr. Fastpitch
25. Gary Young
Mr. Fastpitch. Gary has dedicated his life to the sport of softball, mainly fastpitch, and now serves as the USA Softball of South Dakota state commissioner. He was instrumental in fastpitch finally becoming a sanctioned high school sport last spring.
Young coached Watertown's club high school program for years and led the Arrows to state Class AA title in 2009 and the fall high school state championship in 2022.
24. Jason Bartels, Justin Harte, Casey Feininger and Darius Glab
These four coaches have served the longest stints as head coach for Watertown's high school soccer boys (Bartels and Harte) and girls (Feininger and Glab) teams. Feininger is also one of the best track and field pole vault coaches around.
There have been many other coaches in the history of Watertown's program, which started as a club sport in 1999 and fielded its first sanctioned SDHSAA teams in 2014.
23. Scott Ewald and Ryan Zink
Ewald spent numerous years a middle school basketball coach and a short stint as Watertown High School's girls basketball coach, but really made his mark with the Arrows' boys and girls tennis programs.
In a 20-year span, Ewald led the Arrow boys to the 2013 state championship and seven Eastern South Dakota Conference titles. He also guided the Arrow girls to six ESD titles.
Zink served as an assistant under Ewald, starting in 2005, and has continued what Ewald started since he took over as head coach in 2018.
22A. Tom Lee, Terry Nelson and Roger Remien
What do these guys have in common? Let me tell you. They all played basketball at the now defunct Huron College, where I grew up. I saw them all play before they became high school coaches and crossed my path later on.
Lee coached at Waubay and Roslyn, compiling a 430-290 record in 31 seasons of boys basketball and a 92-44 record in 16 seasons of football. Nelson's 19-year boys basketball career included stops at Deubrook, Britton and Britton-Hecla and a combined 289-152 record. He's back as Britton-Hecla's girls basketball coach.
Remien had boys basketball coaching success at Waverly and Florence before leaving the coaching profession.
22B. Dennis Sumption, Doug Meyer, Butch Brenden and Paul Kelley, Willow Lake
Note: These guys didn't make the print edition, but I've added them late on the web edition. Can't believe I almost forgot them.
In the late 1980s, Sumption (with help from assistant Meyer) led Willow Lake's girls to their first state basketball tournament and started a run for the Pirates that included nine trips to the State B from 1988-2005 also featured stints by Meyer, Brenden and Kelley as head coaches. The Pirates finished second each of the last seven times they went to state.
Sumption compiled a 163-110 record in 13 seasons with the Pirates. Kelley is still coaching the boys team at Custer.
21. Troy Gauer, Chad Gusso and Kevin Berg
For years, Grant-Deuel had one of the best nine-man high school football programs in the area and these three were the primary head coaches I worked with. Berg had a ton of success in the 1980s.
Gusso only coached a handful of years, but did lead the Wildcats to a state Class B title in 1995, the only one in school history.
Gauer led the Wildcats to state 9B runner-up finishes in 2003 and 2007 as part of a 17-year stint in which Grant-Deuel went 115-44. He's reportedly retiring spending a number of years as an assistant in Milbank.
20. Pat McClemans, Chad Rohde and Todd Jutting
I'm lumping these guys together as Watertown High School girls basketball coaches, but they're way more than that.
McClemans coached Watertown's girls to state AA championships in 2007 and 2009 before becoming a boys basketball assistant. He then took over as the girls' coach again in 2020 for two seasons before taking over as the head coach of the boys' program last winter.
Rohde served as an assistant girls coach under McClemans before becoming the program's head coach last winter and leading the Arrows to their first state-tourney appearance since 2009. He also spent four years as the school's cross country coach (more as an assistant) and has also served as the Arrow track and field head coach since 2011, leading the squad to state AA runner-up finishes in 2011, 2016 and 2019.
Jutting, a Watertown native and longtime amateur baseball teammate of mine, taught for years at South Shore and led Wavelry-South Shore's girls basketball team to a perfect season and a state B championship in 2000. He later served as a girls head coach and boys assistant in Watertown. His record at South Shore and Waverly-South Shore was 150-69.
19. Mark Amdahl
In 12 seasons as Summit High School's girls basketball coach, he led the Eagles to a 251-41 record and eight State B trips that included championships in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and a runner-up finish in 2010.
He's since taken over as Waubay-Summit's boys basketball coach and led the Mustangs to 2022 state B tournament. Waubay last made it to state in 1955 and Summit made only one trip in 1990.
18. Mark Bellum, Melissa Van Gilder and Vicky Fisher
Got to give Bellum a ton of credit, He took over Watertown High School's gymnastics program in 1989 and did everything he could to build it into one of the best in Class AA during an 18-year span that included a runner-up finish in 2004 and the school's first state title in 2006. Since 2004, the Arrows have seven state titles and seven runner-up finishes.
Van Gilder and Fisher, who was a gymnast on the 2004 team, served as co-head coaches and led the Arrows to state titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Van Gilder stepped down, but then had to return in 2012-13 as an interim head coach for Fisher, who was pregnant with her first child. Fisher has been the head coach ever since and led the Arrows to state titles in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
17. Arlin Likness, Jeff Sheehan, Tim Koisti and Dan Poppen
Here's four Hamlin coaches. Likness' 38-year coaching career included a 206-101 career record, including a 16-year stint with the Chargers (118-32). After five-straight semifinal playoff losses, Hamlin won Class 11B titles in 1989, 1990 and 1991 and also two state runner-up finishes before he departed for Yankton, where he took over as head coach in 1989 and led the Bucks to four state Class 11AA titles.
Sheehan, a Watertown native, has coached 26 years of football at Waverly-South Shore, Richland (N.D.) and Hamlin. His career record of 163-58 including a state title in North Dakota for Richland and a state Class 9B title in 2014 in South Dakota for Hamlin.
Koisti, a Hamlin grad, coached Hamlin's boys golf team to a state B title (2015) and two runner-up finishes and the Hamlin's girls to a State A championship last winner after back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2022.
Poppen has been long-time track coach for the Chargers, overseeing many good athletes included record-setting thrower Gracelyn Leiseth, who is now at the University of Florida.
16. Bob Hirsch, Chas Welch and Aaron Althoff
These guys are linked as Watertown High School wrestling coaches. Hirsch actually led Milbank's program for 17 years and led the Bulldogs to a state Class A title in 1990 and runner-up finishes in 1993-95 before replacing the legendary Marv Sherrill as Watertown's head coach in 2003.
Welch took over for Hirsch after the 2015 season and led the Arrows' to a runner-up finish in 2023. Althoff is a part of a family that has been a big part of Watertown's wrestling program for nearly three decades and has been an assistant coach for the team since 2007.
20 Favorites: Links to the stories highlighting the best northeastern South Dakota athletes since 1984
15. Beth Schutt, Rosemary Bellum and other WHS volleyball coaches
There have been six head coaches in the history of Watertown's volleyball program, which started under Schutt's direction in 1990-91. She coached the team for seven seasons, leading the Arrows a state Class AA runner-up finish in 1994 and the program's first state title in 1997. She helped me and many others learn the game.
Bellum played on the 1994 team and spent 18 years as an assistant before becoming the Arrows' head coach in 2017. She's lead Watertown to five state tournaments in seven years and the program's second state title in 2019.
Karen Bossman (7 years), Tiffany Beste (7 years) and Kim Rohde (5 years) also deserve mention. Bossman also worked many years as a middle school coach.
14. Dale Schultz, Larry Hulscher and David Hammer
Declining enrollment, co-ops and larger schools dropping down classifications has made things tough for Wilmot High School's athletic programs in recent years,. That wasn't the case in the early years of my tenure at the Public Opinion.
Schultz started coaching boys basketball at Wilmot in 1977 and compiled a 369-342 record in 29 seasons that included State B trips in 1987 and 1989. Hulscher led Wilmot's football team for 22 years, going 103-91.
Hammer, whose brother Steve was another former Huron College basketball player I watched growing up, spent many years leading the Wolves' track and field squads.
13. Paul Raasch, Bill Vincent and John Rasmussen
Raasch, a Castlewood native who was a long-time amateur baseball foe and friend, is the fifth all-time winningest boys basketball coach in South Dakota with a 575-255 record in 37 years at Alpena, Webster Area, Langford and now Castlewood. He's also 85-49 in 14 years as a football coach and 106-63 in eight years of girls basketball.
Vincent, a De Smet native, has coached Sioux Valley's boys for 26 years and compiled a 455-141 record.
Rasmussen, a Watertown native, coached basketball for 25 years (including South Shore, Castlewood, Hamlin, Redfield and Brookings) and compiled a 293-225 record. He led Hamlin's girls to a state Class A title in 1996.
12. John Schiley, Leon Breske, Cindy Nelson and other Webster coaches
A lot of success the Webster and Webster Area High School athletic teams have enjoyed through the years had a lot to do with these three as well as Brian Lux, Bill Sawinsky and Jared Vergeldt.
Schiley was a three-time state wrestling champion for the Bearcats who returned home to resurrect the school's program, leading the Bearcats to State B titles in 2005, 2006 and 2011. Webster has been the most successful wrestling program in the area, also thanks to current head coach Wade Rausch (who took over for Schiley in 2010).
Breske led the Bearcats' football team to state Class 11B titles in 2000 and 2003 and Nelson's hall of fame volleyball career included leading Webster to state B titles in 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1989 and two other runner-up finishes.
Lux coached the school's golf teams for years and led the boys to a state B runner-up finish in 2012. Sawinsky led the school's track programs and also served as athletic director and Vergeldt led the Bearcats' girls basketball team to four-straight State A trips from 2014-2107 and is now coaching the boys.
11. Doug Schooley, Scott Leitheiser and John Hodorff
I didn't really start covering Watertown's football team until about the turn of the century (J.T. Fey handled coverage before than) and these three guys have led the squad for most of the past 25 years.
Schooley spent 13 seasons (1990-2002) as the Arrows' head coach and went 97-40 with state 11AA championships in 1996 and 2001.
Leitheiser went 56-37 in nine seasons (2003-2011) and won three ESD titles. His teams had a lot of success but had to face either Sioux Falls Roosevelt or O'Gorman basically every year in the first-round of the playoffs at a time when Sioux Falls schools started dominating big-school football.
Hodorff served as an assistant for a handful of years before taking over for Steve Svendsen in 2014. He's coached the past 10 years. The Arrows were overmatched as a Class 11AAA school for much of his tenure.
10. Boyx Sussex, Jeremy Tostenson, Gordie Bergquist and Nancy Hoeke
Here's a Fab Four for you and part of a superb group of Milbank coaches. Sussex coached boys basketball for 31 years, 12 in North Dakota and the last 19 at Milbank, where he compiled a 275-136 record that included six State A trips and a state championship in 2005. His overall career record was 443-247.
Tostenson coached wrestling for many years and also compiled an 87-69 record in 15 seasons as Milbank's head football coach, highlighted by a state Class 11A title in 2009. I'm, not sure I met a more appreciative state championship coach during my career.
Bergquist guided Milbank's girls basketball teams to a state Class A title in 1987 and runner-up finishes in 1988 and 1989, going 195-95 in 13 seasons.
Hoeke has spent 33 seasons coaching volleyball (the last 23 as Milbank's head coach), compiling a 430-238-5 record with state Class A titles in 2004 and 2006 and two runner-up finishes.
9. Steve Gilbertson, Tim and Anita Boeck and Mike Parry
This group is all from Arlington. Gilbertson originally started coaching at Hamlin before becoming the football and wrestling coach at Arlington. He spent 19 seasons as the football coach, going 123-64 and leading the Cardinals to the 2004 and 2005 state 9AA championships and a runner-up finish in 2013.
Tim Boeck coached Arlington's track and field teams for years and his wife Anita led an Arlington volleyball team that went 731-247-10 in her 29 seasons before she stepped down in 2018. The Cardinals won a State B title in 2010 and had six runner-up finishes.
Parry went 309-216 in 24 seasons as Arlington's boys basketball coach, which included a State B title in 2006.
More: Arlington's Boeck to step down as second winningest volleyball coach in state history
8. Galen Swenson, Jerry McPartland, Doug Ruesink & Leslie Tvedt
Here's some Castlewood legends. Swenson coached the Warriors' boys basketball program for 28 seasons and compiled a 429-182 record that included a fabulous five-year run from (1999-2003) that included state B titles in 1999 and 2001, a runner-up finish in 2000 and third-place finishes in 2002 and 2003.
McPartland and Ruesink have coached Castlewood's football teams during my tenure. McPartland went 171-57 in 23 seasons with a state Class 9B title in 1989. Ruesink, who also coached at Estelline, took over for McPartland at Castlewood. He recorded his 150th career win this fall.
Leslie (Kruiter) Tvedt not only was a girls basketball standout for Castlewood, but later returned to coach the girls program for 19 seasons (295-108) that included State B titles in 2010 and 2018 and two runner-up finishes.
Special mention to Dan Haug, a Castlewood football assistant who has spent many years coaching the town's amateur and American Legion baseball teams.
7. Brian Norberg and Gary Thomas
These two guys coached Watertown High School boys basketball teams to state AA titles and were not only great coaches, but great people to work with.
Norberg actually played on a state championship team for the Arrows in 1992 and returned home to coach his alma mater from 2003-2018, finishing as the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 193-153 record.
Thomas spent six years with the Arrows, leading the team to a combined 87-57 record and the 1999 state Class AA championship.
Note: I know I should mention Kraig Ulveling, who revived the Watertown program and led the Arrows to a state title in 1992. He also coached the WHS tennis team to a state title. Thing is, I knew Kraig, but I didn't work with him a lot because J.T. Fey handled those sports when he was here.
More: Old-School Coach: Hamlin grad Mark Prouty’s basketball coaching journey kicked off 40 years ago
6. Joel Huber, Jerome Nesheim and Mark Prouty
More legends, all tied to coaching in Clark. Huber played football at the University of Sioux Falls when I broadcasted their games for the college radio station and arrived in Clark about the same time I ended up in Watertown. In 35 seasons, Huber's teams went 177-143 with a state Class 11B title in 2002.
Nesheim has coached Clark and Clark-Willow Lake basketball teams and will open his 25th season as head boys' coach shortly with a 421-120 career record. He led Clark-Willow Lake to the 2019 state B title and also has led Clark and Clark-Willow Lake boys and girls basketball teams to three state runner-up finishes.
Prouty's 42-year coaching career has included the last 13 seasons as an assistant for Nesheim with Clark-Willow Lake's boys. He's coached boys for 33 years and girls for 16, many as a head coach, and has coached teams that have won more than 600 games.
5. Cal Schubert, Cory Grimsrud and Cheryl Jenner
Jenner coached Sisseton's girls basketball teams for 14 seasons (going 141-99) and leading the Redmen to their first state Class A title in 1999.
Those are good numbers, but pale in comparison to what Schubert and assistant Grimsrud accomplished in a 24-year span after that. The Redmen went 365-163 under the duo with four state championships (2000, 2001, 2004 and 2011).
Sisseton nearly won four state titles in a row, but in the winter of 2003 (after the state's girls basketball season was moved from the fall to the winter), the Redmen lost to Tri-Valley 41-38 in the finals.
4. Dennis Gall and David Florey
Dennis Gall coached Watertown High School's girls basketball teams from 1985-1991, going 84-74 and leading the team to the state AA tourney each of the final five seasons. He was the first coach I worked heavily with when I first arrived here and the way he treated me certainly had a lot to do with me still being in this business all these years later. He also was an assistant boys coach for many years, working with Gary Thomas on the 1999 state champions.
Florey didn't coach long, only four seasons as the Arrow girls basketball coach. Watertown went 70-23 in that time with a 1993 state AA championship. He also coached the sophomore team to an unbeaten season prior to taking over as the program's head coach.
1A-1B-1C. Vic Godfrey, Marv Sherrill and Marv McCune
These guys are more than just legends and there was no way I'm going to pick between the three, so they can share the top spot.
Godfrey spent 26 years and two stints as Watertown High School's track coach and 27 seasons as the cross country coach, part of a 50-year career that included stints at Wisconsin-Parkside and as the chief national coach for the Olympic track team for the Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf — a position he held for 12 years. The Arrow girls won the state AA cross country title in 2001 and finished second four times. The Arrow boys won a state Class AA track title in 1998 and finished second four times.
Sherrill is the most successful wrestling coach in state history, guiding Watertown to eight Class A titles and nine runner-up finishes during a 35-year stint that ended in 2003. His teams went 504-151-13 in duals and won 14 Eastern South Dakota Conference and 18 region championships.
McCune, who passed away in 2021, was another Huron College athlete I watched as a kid and is one of a handful of coaches in state history with football and basketball championships. He led De Smet to a mythical state Class 11B football title in 1980 and the first official state Class 11B title in 1981. In 22 years as the Bulldogs' head boys basketball coach, he compiled a 337-149 record with state B titles in 1987 and 1995 and a state A title in 1999.
Two of the De Smet's 1987 players, Doug Osthus (girls, 2019) and Jeff Gruehagen (boys, 2021, 2022 and 2023) have also coached state title teams in De Smet. I also want to mention Pat Wheeler, who was Marv's longtime assistant in basketball and also spent many years leading De Smet's cross country teams.
Note: With both my "20 Favorites" and "30 Favorites" stories, I am planning on a "Who I missed" story sometime down the road. There are definitely some extra athletes and coaches who deserve mention. Stay tuned for more details.
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: A look at some of the top area high school coaches since 1984
