2020 Coach of the Year

You'd think our coach of the year would come from one of our team of the year candidates, and you'd be correct. And, since most of my pre-season team of the year candidates did not end up on my final list, well, many of my pre-season coach of the year candidates are not on my final list either.

My pre-season list was Scott Bergman, Sauk Centre girls; Matt Marganthaler, Mankato State men; Mandy Pearson, UMD women; Ryan Saunders, Minnesota Timberwolves; Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women; Lindsay Whalen, Gopher women.

Meanwhile, my final list of team of the year candidates included the Hopkins girls and Eden Prairie boys; the St. John's and St. Thomas men; and the Minnehaha boys. The UMD, Bethel and St. Cloud women were all contenders as well.

From this list, here are my picks as the top 5 coaches of the year.

1. John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women

Among these top 6 coaches, Herbie's team--that is, the Bethel women--seemed to be the least likely to succeed in a historical sense. Bethel has just not been in the winner's circle a whole lot. Everybody else had just a little less of a hill to climb. All six of these coaches are terrific, but what Bethel did was the most out-of-the-ordinary outcome among these six programs. All of these other teams have done it before...well, with the exception of the Eden Prairie boys, who have had some great teams, some state championship contenders but never unbeaten, never a #1 seed. Had they won the state title, as expected, yes, it would have been a first. That's why EP coach David Flom comes in at #2.

2. David Flom, Eden Prairie boys
3. Jim Smith, St. John's
4. Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
5 (tie). Lori Fish, St. Cloud State women
5 (tie). Mandy Pearson, UMD women