A Tribute to Bob McDonald

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob McDonald on the occasion of his final regular season game back in 2012. It was a loss to Ely, coached by his son Tom. Bob was remarkably cordial and a great interview, too, as I think you'll agree. I will never forget his comment summing up his 52 years as Chisholm coach. "Losing doesn't bother me.... What I rest on (is that) we were good people." He meant his players but that of course describes Bob and all of the McDonalds as well.  

The measure of a man or woman is the people around him. I met Bob 3 or 4 times and, as I said, he was as cordial as could be. I've had the pleasure to know his sons Joel and Mike and Paul and Tom, and the best tribute I can think of to Bob McDonald is just, yeah: Good people. A great coach and so much more.

Here's the interview.

Q: This is the first time I’ve seen your team (this year), so how well would you say they played tonight? 

 

We didn’t play fluidly, we didn’t play with one another. That’s been a big item this year, they don’t play well together. They’re dysfunctional that way. They have very little in common with one another, and that’s the mark of a good team. (One day) we were sitting there in the locker room and I asked, now, who’s your friend on the team? Not one kid could point at another kid on the team and say, he’s my friend.

 

So this was fairly representative of how they’ve played all year?

 

Yes, erratically.

 

They had some nice runs and then some that weren’t so nice.

 

That’s it. How in the world can these guys…. You can’t believe they play stinko, but they’ve done that regularly. It’s an up and down situation. So it’s not unexpected. But some way or other, and I don’t know if it can be done, it can’t be done by coaches, but they have to get a feeling for one another. All good teams that we’ve had in the past were tight. But this team is going to be very difficult to bring in to the conclusion that they have to have….

 

As an outsider I thought, well, maybe they’re a little out of sync because they knew this was your last night, it’s a special occasion. Were they at all upset by that?

 

No. I think they realize…I play to win. I don’t want anybody’s sympathy. And they’re good kids. They want to do something for me. But I’ll do something for me. They should do something for themselves. And they failed in that respect tonight to a great degree. But they’re fine kids. I don’t have a dummy in the bunch. Intellectually they’re sound, and they’re good to be around. But they haven’t been able to put it together on the court.

 

Now, they did play an awfully good opponent tonight.

 

Yes, they were, Ely is good. Tom has a disciplined team. One thing about Ely is they’re isolated. They’re within themselves. Everybody knows everybody. They’re like fingers in a glove. They live in Ely. It’s for Ely’s sake that they play. So they have a feeling for each other and a closeness that we don’t have. Tom does a nice job coaching them.

 

Sometimes they look like Chisholm, the fast break, they push the pace….

 

That’s right. (Tom) played that way, see. Paul played that way. Mike played that way. The whole bunch plays that way. So I’m getting stung by the skills that I would expect our kids to have. They all do a good job coaching. 

 

As you think beyond tonight to the whole 52 years, how do you summarize the experience?

 

It’s been wonderful. Losing doesn’t bother me, it’s the quality of the kids that keeps you going. I’ve had losing teams that were fine people. But I could go off the court knowing we were competitive. We were good people. Scholastically sound, no trouble makers throughout my career. That is what I rest on. 

 

How do you think the game of basketball—boys basketball in Minnesota—has changed in 52 years?

 

I think the jump shooting is the big change. That is it. All other things are basically the same. You’ve got your post play. You’ve got your kids shooting the set from the three-point line. But now we can’t stop that. I used to tell my kids to get up in their face because they’re shooting the set. But now they get up on the jump shot and shoot it over you, you can’t do a thing with that. The jump shot has made the big difference in high school basketball in Minnesota. Do with strategy what you will. But it’s that shot and your ability to put it up on the fly…. 

 

Who are the people you admire that you’ve interacted with in your career?

 

In high school ball, that would be O.J. Belluzzo, who was my father. And Harvey Roels. They were tough as nails, those guys were tough. They would look at you cross-eyed, but Harvey would paddle your hind end. He never did that to me. But they didn’t tolerate any insolence or going half speed. It was expected, not that kids wouldn’t screw up, but…. 

 

Times have changed. We have more people that try to react with finesse in the game of basketball as young people that they can’t quite attain. The jump shot is the big item, that is it. If you have a good jump shooter… and we’ve had some good ballplayers. 

 

As I look at the kids who played for me, I revel in the fact that they’re fine citizens, tough basketball players, athletically inclined, and we got another set of kids coming along, the little kids, to take their place. And that’s the way life is, too. Somebody will come along to take my place. 

 

And, now, do we know who that is?

 

No, but I would presume that it would be Larry Pervananze, who’s been around. The only thing that might hang him up is he’s not a school (teacher). A lot of people want a school man, someone who’ll be around the kids all the time. He’s a good man. But how much time you can spend with young kids….

 

Who was the best player you ever coached?

 

(Laughs) I’m not going to say. I’ve had lots of them. I look to see what they do with the ability they had. We’ve had some tremendous ballplayers.

Ely coach Tom McDonald

I also had the pleasure of interviewing Tom that night. Here is some of what he had to say.

 

This is the first time I’ve seen your team, so how well would you say they played tonight? Was this a great effort, an average effort…?

 

I thought we played pretty well under the circumstances, all the emotion of my dad’s last game. We kept our discipline on defense pretty well. And, we like to run and gun and those minute possessions that they had kind of tested us a little bit, but I thought they played well. 

 

You said your kids were aware of the significance of tonight’s game. Did they feel any extra pressure with that? And I’m sure you did.

 

Yeah, I did, too. It’s sad to see him go after so many years. I was a part of this program for so many years, and now watching it from the outside, it’s a sad day to see dad go. Even thought I think it’s time. But he’s put so much into the program here and the culture of basketball here. 

 

A lot of times our guys are a little afraid of Chisholm because of the mystique. In 24 years of coaching at Ely, this is only the second time I’ve won here. So the wins are few and far between here, so somehow we got over that (tonight).

 

 

Minneapolis Roosevelt 1956-1957 Revisited

Minneapolis Roosevelt 1956-1957 Revisited

Thanks to Tom Nordland, star of Minneapolis Roosevelt’s 1956 and 1957 state championship teams, for a recent conversation and for some other information that sheds light on the Roosevelt dynasty. Minneapolis Roosevelt has always been regarded as one of the great teams of the single class era. They were the fifth of six repeat winners after Moorhead (1928-1929), Buhl (1941-1942), Minneapolis Patrick Henry (1944-1945) and Hopkins (1952-1953) and before Edina’s three-peat in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Minneapolis Edison’s 1937 state champions had been regarded as the greatest Minnesota team until that time. Some news reports suggested that maybe Buhl was better. It wasn’t until Hopkins in 1952 and 1953 that this suggestion—“best ever”—was made again. Then, it was raised in quick succession in reference to Minneapolis Washburn in 1955, Roosevelt in 1956 and 1957, and then Duluth Central in 1961. Among the repeaters:

• Moorhead (1928-1929) was 19-3 and 24-3, and won 2 championship games by an average score of 24-16. Coach was Glen Hanna and Earl Moran and Shorty Malvey made all-tournament 3 times.

• Buhl (1941-1942) was 26-3 and 28-0 and won 2 finals by an average of 30-29. Buhl was led by Ed Nylund and John Klarich.

• Henry (1944-1945) was 24-1 each year and won 2 finals 58-38. Henry was led by Jim McIntyre who was the first boy ever to lead the tournament in scoring twice with 86 and then 100 points.

• Hopkins (1952-1953) was 25-1 and 23-0 and 50-38. Hopkins was led by coach Butsie Maetzold and forward Dave Tschimperle. Tschimperle was the third player ever to make all-tournament 3 times. (Nobody else did it again until Khalid El-Amin and Jabbar Washington.)

• Roosevelt (1956-1957) was 20-3 and 27-0 and 80-52. Roosevelt was led by Tom Nordland and coach Wayne Courtney.

• Edina (1966-1968) was 26-0, 27-0 and 27-1 and won 3 finals by an average of 75-58. Edina was led by Bob Zender and coach Duane Baglien. With its 3-peat and its 2 unbeatens, Edina is obviously the great dynasty of the single class era.

But, who was the best of the rest?

The Undefeated

First, you might assume it would be one of the unbeatens—Buhl 1942 (28-0), Hopkins 1953 (23-0) or Roosevelt 1957 (27-0). 

• But, Buhl’s unbeaten team only won the final 30-29 over Marshall. On the other hand, it’s true that they hammered Moorhead 53-29 in a semi-final. 

• Hopkins, on the other hand, was in the midst of a winning streak that reached a then record 65 games, a record that Edina would break in 1968 with 69. And, Hopkins losses at the beginning and end of the streak were both overtime games—one, I think it was to Eau Claire Regis, was in a Gopher prelim game, and so the 2^nd OT was sudden death. The game had to end because the Gopher game needed to get started.  And, in 1954, Hopkins lost to Minneapolis Patrick Henry in Region Five play, also in OT.

That leaves Roosevelt, and the difficulty with Roosevelt was always—which was better? The 1957 team was unbeaten, sure. But, the 1956 team famously clobbered Blue Earth 101-54 in the final while the 1957 team needed OT to beat Bemidji in the state tournament 73-70. 

So, I asked Nordland, which team was better, 1956 or 1957? His answer was, “Oh, 1957. We beat DeLaSalle.”

Roosevelt 1956

Minneapolis Washburn won the state title in 1955. Some thought them the best ever. But, many others thought they had cheated. Their team had played together over the previous summer, though coach Ray Ross was not involved. In those days, it wasn’t illegal for a team to play together in the summer but there was kind of a gentleman’s agreement not to do it. After Washburn won the title, in 1955, the MSHSL officially adopted a rule that said high school teams could not play together over the summer.

So, in 1955-1956, Washburn beat Roosevelt 63-62 in their only regular season meeting. Meanwhile Roosevelt also lost a couple of games to DeLaSalle, 64-54 and 81-63. The Islanders were in the middle of a four-peat, winning the state Catholic tournament in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. The 1955 team defeated Duluth Cathedral 57-33 in the final, finished unbeaten, and was named the mythical national Catholic champion by the Chicago Tribune. In 1956, DeLaSalle beat St. Thomas in the final 67-48, and also beat the St. Paul city champions, St. Paul Wilson, 63-42 and 57-47. Roosevelt beat Wilson in the Twin City game 74-54. So the wins over Roosevelt were no fluke, though it is also true that Roosevelt was a much better team in March than in December. Remember, they lost to Washburn. Well, in March, in the district tournament, they beat Washburn 91-50.

Amazingly, Roosevelt also played Blue Earth in the regular season, winning 60-58. They had improved by 42 points against Washburn. Against Blue Earth, they had improved by 49 by the time of their 101-54 win in the state final. Roosevelt also beat New Prague and Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer at the time, Ron Johnson, 70-53 in the semis.

So, by March of 1956, this Roosevelt team was clearly one of the best ever. They avenged one of their losses, big time, though whether they could have avenged the others will never be known.

Roosevelt 1957

Roosevelt played DeLaSalle just once in 1957, and that game came at DeLaSalle on December 22. DeLaSalle led 27-20 and 44-37 after the first 2 periods, but scored just 7 in the 3^rd as Roosevelt tied it up at 51. Roosevelt pulled ahead in the 4^th period to win 70-68. Nordland scored 34 points on 14 FG and 6-of-7 FT and Jerry Butler added 23 on 8 FG and 7-of-8 FT for Roosevelt. Paul Lehman scored 22 and Gleason 21 for DeLaSalle. Roosevelt made 14-of-19 FT, DeLaSalle just 12-of-24 on its home court. Roosevelt appears to have made 28-of-69 FG (40 percent) and DeLaSalle 28-of-52 (54 percent).

These details come from coach Wayne Courtney’s scorebook—not in his hand, certainly, but his own personal scorebook that he gave to Nordland before his death and which Nordland loaned to me.

Roosevelt also played Blue Earth (at Blue Earth) again, winning 74-31 on December 15. Blue Earth star George Dean started but was apparently injured. He did not play after the 1^st quarter, and did not record a single point or foul. Nordland scored 17, Peterson 16 and Butler 14 for Roosevelt. Blue Earth made 8-of-59 FG. Roosevelt also took a road trip to Spencer, IA, and Austin, where they won 60-55 and 78-58. Nordland outscored Jones of Spencer 38-25 and Carothers of Austin 27-23. Butler did not play against Austin, yet Austin center Roger Voss, who went on to make all-conference at Colorado, scored just 4 points.

There is one other game that needs to be mentioned. Unfortunately, the game is neither dated nor is the location indicated in Courtney’s book. It was after February 9, when Roosevelt beat St. Paul Central 79-48, and it was before February 27, when they beat St. Paul Murray 55-32 at Williams Arena in the Twin City Game. My understanding, however, is that this game, too, was at Williams Arena, and it was another Gopher prelim game. For about 25 years, as you old-timers may recall, Gopher games were preceded by a high school game. This one in 1957 resulted in a tie, 46-46, between Roosevelt and Duluth East. East had opened as a junior high in 1927, and it became a senior high in 1950. Athletically, it was always the little brother or the poor cousin to Duluth Central. 1957 was no exception. Central won District 26, then lost to Tower-Soudan in Region 7 49-46, and then Tower-Soudan lost to Hibbing 65-53. In the state tournament Hibbing lost to Fergus Falls 57-55 and then Fergus lost to Roosevelt 83-59. How could Roosevelt tie Duluth East? Was Duluth East any good? I don’t know.

But, for one night, East was as good as Roosevelt. It was 22-22 and 32-32 after the first 2 periods. In the 3^rd East pulled ahead 41-38. The 4^th went to Roosevelt 8-5 for a 46-46 tie. This time (unlike Hopkins and Regis in 1952) there was no OT at all. Nordland scored 17 and Peterson 14, while Bert Sibley scored 17 for East and Jim Mitchell 10. East made 6-of-18 FT (33 percent), 2-of-10 in the 2^nd half! But, Roosevelt made just 15-of-73 FG (20 percent). The first period was 22-22, after that it was 24-24 for 3 periods. The shooting over the final 3 periods must have been horrendous. Nordland had 11 points at the half. He made one FG and 4-of-4 FT in the second half and 11-of-12 for the game. Roosevelt made 5 FG in the 2^nd half. 

In 1925, St. Thomas and St. Paul Mechanic Arts played to a 21-21 regular season tie. Mechanic Arts went on to win the MSHSL title, and its won-lost record is listed as 17-1-1. (St. Thomas won the state Catholic title.) In 1957, Roosevelt tied Duluth East, won the state title, and it’s won-lost record is listed as 27-0. Go figure.

We noted that Roosevelt beat St. Paul Murray 55-32 in the TC Game. Willmar beat Murray in the regular season 85-59, and Red Wing beat Murray 57-39 in the Region 4 final. Roosevelt beat Willmar for the 2^nd straight year in region play. In 1956 it was Roosevelt 63 Willmar 60. In 1957 it was 63-59. And, Roosevelt beat Red Wing 59-51 in the state final. DeLaSalle beat Winona Cotter 67-41 in the Catholic final to complete its 4-peat. 

In that famous Bemidji game, by the way, the one that Roosevelt won 73-70 in OT, Roosevelt shot 13-of-33 FT (39 percent). Nordland was 2-for-2 and scored 22 points before fouling out. The great Ray Cronk scored 34 for Bemidji including 10-of-16 FT. So, other than Nordland and Cronk, the FT shooters made 1-of-15! Ouch! In their 2^nd and 3^rd games combined Roosevelt shot 58-of-80 FT and just 42-of-128 FG. Nordland scored 31 and 31 and made 11-of-12 and then 19-of-20 FT. For the tournament he was 32-of-34. 

What Does It All Mean?

Well, it means that, yes, Roosevelt was better in 1957 than in 1956. Tommy Nordland says so, and he would know. But Roosevelt’s 1957 state champions, who finished 27-0-1, have to be rated behind Hopkins 1953 among the high school teams between Edison in 1937 and Edina in 1967. “We beat DeLaSalle,” as Nordland said, but we also tied Duluth East. 

Tommy Nordland

At the time, Nordland was regarded as the best jump shooter ever to come out of Minnesota. Certainly he was one of the best FT shooters. Nordland has since spent his entire life teaching people how to shoot a basketball. His “Swish” videos have been distributed all over the world. So it’s worth noting that Nordland shot the ball on the way up. Back in the day, people shot a set shot. The ball was released with the feet on the floor, though there might be a little jump because of the upward momentum. The innovation of the “jump shot” at the time was that you generated a little more upward momentum and you actually shot the ball with your feet off the floor. But, Nordland described his shot as a semi-set shot because he shot it on the way up, and not at the top of his jump. 

Wayne Courtney

Jim Robinson, who surely refereed thousands of high school games in Minnesota, once said that he thought Wayne Courtney was the best coach he ever saw. I asked Nordland about this. He hesitated and with furrowed brow said, “No.” He went on, “None of us ever did anything in college.” Courtney didn’t prepare his kids for the next level. He didn’t teach fundamentals, Nordland said. “We played a zone defense. I never knew how to play a man defense.” Nordland was a catch-and-shoot shooter and, yet, he said, “I never knew anything about coming off a screen. We never set a screen.”

Nordland, for the record, went to Stanford on a basketball scholarship but never played.  

Once again, I think you would have to agree that Tom Nordland would know about these things. Thanks very much to Tom, who now lives in Eagan, for a candid conversation (and a scorebook) that helps shed a lot of light on what many regard as the Golden Age of Minnesota high school ball. 

Bethel Royals women knock off the Augsburg Auggies 74-70 to stay unbeaten in the MIAC

2 teams came unbeaten into Augsburg's Si Melby arena Wednesday. And, after 54 fouls, 47 turnovers and 25 missed FT, one team walked out of Si Melby unbeaten, and that was the Bethel Royals, who eeked out a 74-70 win over the host Auggies. It was a game of runs, it was a war of attrition--or, one might say, a war of the whistles though, in the end, only 2 players fouled out, but others spent long minutes on the bench with fouls--it was a battle not only with the opponents but with a slippery ball. But, it was also a battle of ball movement, as the 2 teams got 35 assists on 46 baskets and made 33-of-65 2-pointers.

Augsburg got the game's first run, taking an early 15-5 lead as 5 different players scored. The lead was still 9 at the end of the 1st. But Bethel caught up at 29-29 and led 35-33 at the half as Kaezha Wubben had 14 points off the bench for the Auggies, and Taite Anderson had 11 for Bethel.

Augsburg again got out of the gate quickly, taking the lead at 38-37 and extending it to 43-37 with a 10-2 run to open the 2nd half. Bethel again bounced backing, tying it at 43 on an Anderson 3 and taking the lead on an Anderson 2. Now it was Bethel's turn to hang a big run on the Auggies. From 43-37 down, they surged to 62-50 up at the end of the 3rd quarter, which makes that a 25-7 run. Anderson had 7 and Haley Barker 5 during the run.

Once again, Augsburg roared back, taking the lead at 65-64 at 4:26 as Camryn Speese capped a 15-2 run with a FT but, unfortunately, she also missed a FT, one of 6 that the Auggies missed out of 10 attempts in the 4th. Bethel went back up 66-65 on a Makenna Pearson bucket, then Augsburg tied it with Arianna Jones again making just 1 of 2 FT. Bethel more than responded with an Elizabeth Schwarz bucket down low and a Barker steal-and-2 for a 4 point lead at 1:00. Tamira McLemore and Wubben scored for Bethel, but Barker and Schwarz made 4-of-4 FT to keep the Royals up by 4.

Augsburg "won" the game on the offensive glass with 15 offensive rebounds to 7 for Bethel, but the lost the game at the FT line, making 16-of-30 while Bethel made 23-of-34. Augsburg had 25 turnovers, 19 of them on Bethel steals, but Bethel reciprocated with 22 turnovers, only 9 of them on Augsburg steals. Frankly, I thought Augsburg would win tonight because they're a little quicker--and, of course, because they were at home. Their quickness really showed on the offensive board as Spies and Jazmyn Solseth dominated on their own end. But Bethel matched Augsburg's quickness with quick hands and quick feet defending the perimeter and causing turnovers. If you want to say the offensive boards and turnovers evened out, which would be in the eye of the beholder, then you'd have to say the game was won and lost at the FT line. If you wanted to say the the O-boards and missed FT evened out, then you'd have to say those Bethel steals were the difference. But, if you wanted to say that the steals and missed FT evened out, well, then the O-boards should have been the difference, and they weren't. So, steals and missed FT, it is.

In any event, here's where we stand with a long, long way to go in the MIAC. Keep in mind the MIAC women do not play a full round robin. Right now it looks like there are 4 teams that will have a say in the MIAC regular season championship.

Bethel 7-0, 12-0 with a road win and 4 more games against the Big 4, 2 at home and 2 away: Gustavus, @ St. T, @ Gustavus, Augsburg

Gustavus 7-0, 11-1 with a road win @ St. T and 5 more games against the Big 4, 3 at home and 2 away: @ Bethel, Augsburg, St. Thomas, Bethel, @ Augsburg

Augsburg 6-1, 10-2 with a home loss and 4 more games against the Big 4, 2 at home and 2 on the road: @ Gustavus, St. Thomas, @ Bethel, Gustavus

St. Thomas 6-2, 9-3 with a home loss and just 3 more games against the Big 4, 2 on the road: @ Augsburg, @ Gustavus, Bethel.

If everybody loses only road games against the Big 4 then it well end up:

Bethel 16-2
Gustavus 16-2
Augsburg 15-3
St. Thomas 14-4

But, of course, the home team is 0-2 right now. Here are the key games in January:

Saturday January 11--Gustavus @ Bethel
Saturday January 18--Augsburg @ Gustavus
Wednesday January 29--St. Thomas @ Augsburg

January, in other words, is huge for Augsburg and Gustavus with 2 Big 4 games, but all of the Big 4 have at least one Big 4 game. The most decisive things that could happen is that Gustavus, currently unbeaten, sweeps two, or Augsburg, with a loss, loses two. Or St. Thomas, with 2 losses, loses another or gets a big road win.

If I may make this installment 3 of my 1/3 report, St. Thomas' 2 losses are the biggest surprise of the young season along with the fact that one of those was at home to Gustavus. So Gustavus is the other surprise. But, as we've seen Bethel and Augsburg remain very much in the mix.

Gopher Men Battle Arkansas-Pine Bluff to Win 72-56

The Minnesota Gopher men battled Arkansas-Pine Bluff Wednesday night, pulling away from a 44-43 2nd half lead to win 72-56. And, let me stress this: They battled. There was a time, of course, when Arkansas-Pine Bluff would not have been a battle. But that was then and this is now. It was a battle and the Gophers battled. 

The Gophers never trailed but the Golden Lions managed to tie it up at 3-3 and 16-16. Gopher leads felt insecure. Early leads of 6 points (9-3, 11-5, 15-9) were surrendered. A 34-21 lead late in the 1st half and 37-25 at the half was mostly surrendered as APB got within 44-43 at 13:52. But, the Gophers closed it out with a 28-13 advantage over the final 14 minutes.

In the 1st half, it was freshman guard Braeden Carrington who sparked the Gophers from that 16-16 tie. He hit 3 3s plus 2 FT over the following 5 minutes to give the Gophers a 29-19 lead. Jamison Battle scored the next 5 Gopher points and the Gophers led 36-21, but the Lions scored the final 4 points of the half to stay alive at 36-25.

The 2nd half started poorly for the Gophers as Pine Bluff used an 18-8 run to get within 44-43. The Lions guards Kylen Milton and Shaun Doss were able to get to the rim easily and repeatedly against the Gophers' man defense. The Gophers were switching at every opportunity, but it didn't matter who was guarding Milton, in particular. They got to the rim at will against any and all Gopher defenders. Milton scored 8 points and Doss 4 during the Lions' big 2nd half run.

It was at that point that Gopher coach Ben Johnson made the decision to go to a zone defense, and brought in Trey Thompson to play the right-wing defensive position. Thompson failed to score on the night, but coach Johnson seemed to feel that he was essential to this zone defense and he remained on the court most of the rest of the way. His +/- had to be pretty good. In any event, after making 8-of-15 FG to get within 44-43, Pine Bluff made just 5-of 22 FG against the Gophers' zone the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Battle made 3-of-4 FG down the stretch as the Gophers pulled away.

Still, there's no question that Pine Bluff exposed the Gophers' weaknesses. One was the ability (that is, the inability) to defend against penetration into the lane by the Lions' quick guards. On this particular night, the Gophers were able to use a zone defense to stop the bleeding. It is difficult to picture a zone defense as a solution in the Big 10, however. Pine Bluff responded by shooting 5-for-24 (21%) on 3-pointers. Who thinks that Big 10 opponents could not do a little bit better? Still, Pine Bluff scored just 3 points in the final 8 minutes. The zone worked.

Secondly, the Gophers' inside offensive game was woefully weak most of the way.  They made 11-of-20 2-pointers. 55 percent ain't bad, but they only attempted 20! Battle and Carrington shot 16 3s and 6 2s. Pine Bluff shot 44 2s. Of course, the extra shots were partially the result of 14 Golden Lion offensive boards. But, it was also a matter of the Gophers' preference for shots out beyond the arc (27 of them), where they weren't being manhandled. It was the long bomb that saved the Gophers' bacon, as the 2 made 9-of-16 3s, the rest of the team 3-of-11.

Yet the Gophers stubbornly continued to try to get the ball inside and, well, that ended up working out, too. Overall, Dawson Garcia and Pharrel Payne managed 6 buckets on 11 shots, which sounds OK. But that's just one bucket every 7 minutes against an undersized opponent. But, Payne scored 5 quick points to give the Gophers a 52-45 cushion at 10:54. Garcia then scored 4 to make it 64-53 at 4:46. They scored 9 of their 19 points over those 7 or 8 minutes. The rest of the way they were often overpowered by the Lions small but aggressive defenders. Many of Garcia's best moments came at the high post, not on the low block. Payne is raw but his presence helps to free Garcia up in the high post and on the wing.

Carrington finished with 20 points in his best performance yet, while Battle battled back from a slow start to score 18. Garcia battled, too, against tough, physical defenders who denied him the ball for lengthy stretches of the game, and he ended up with 14 points, a team-high 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Ta'lon Cooper scored just 7 but he was the glue that held the Gophers together at times, protecting the ball and getting team highs with 8 assists and 3 blocks. He's kind of a cross between Peyton Willis and Darryl Mitchell, stronger than he is quick, though he's not the 3-point shooting threat that Willis was. Payne played with strength and energy in his 12 minutes but the 2 of them did have 6 turnovers.

The game was much closer than the final score of 72-56 might suggest. It was, appropriately enough, a pair of 3s by Carrington at 7:11 and Battle at 5:53 that increased the Gopher lead from 56-53 to 62-53 that finally provided a sense of security. But, even then, who knew that Pine Bluff was done scoring? 

Best of the Decade

You may have noticed the Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc., posts where I've picked the best every year, or almost every year going back to 1900. In each case, there are a few winners who are listed in boldface. Those, my friends, are the Player of the Decade, Coach of the Decade, and so on. Well, it's obviously time to boldface some of those winners from the 2010s.

It's been a decade of mixed results, starting right at the top with the Lynx earning an A+ and the Timberwolves a D for continued futility. The Gopher women have had a little more success than the men, but neither has been a power. Women C, men C-. Among the smaller schools, St. Thomas has earned an A for the men and an A- for the women.

Minnesota high school ball has continued to improve. It's just a shame Minnesota kids don't want to play for the U. Minnesota basketball will only truly arrive with the hometown university gets the support of local basketball fans and players, like they used to in the heyday of Kevin McHale and Randy Breuer and Jim Dutcher. But, yes, that's a long time ago. The superstars of Minnesota high school ball of course are the Hopkins Royals. Both the boys and girls earn an A. Minnesota high school ball overall, compared to other states, more like a B.

But, anyway, here are the best of the 2010s.

Player of the Decade

The candidates would obviously have to be somebody from the Lynx, the Gopher women and the high schools. Sorry to say that the Timberwolves and Gopher men did not have enough success that anybody looks like a PoY candidate, and it's almost by definition that D2 and D3 players aren't quite good enough for such as award. So the finalists are:

Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
Rachel Banham, Lakeville North girls and Gopher women
Paige Bueckers, Hopkins girls
Tyus Jones, Apple Valley boys
Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx

Augustus played about 5 years longer for the Lynx than Moore did, and both won 4 WNBA titles (or 5, if you count the one that was stolen from them on that no-call on the shot clock violation by the L.A. Sparks). But, Moore at her best was a little better than Seimone--playoff MVP in 2013 and league MVP in 2014, a 3X all-star game MVP.

After that, Bueckers probably ranks ahead of Banham or Jones but she's got a lot of basketball still ahead of her. And, I could argue that she will one day belong to the 2020s.

Player of the Decade--Maya Moore

Team of the Decade

Now, by Team of the Decade, do I mean the team that had the most consistent success throughout? That would be the Minnesota Lynx. Or do I mean just simply the best team in the best season? On that basis, I could argue for one of the Lynx champions, or one of the 2 St. Thomas men's national championship teams, or I could for Hopkins 2019 girls undefeated state champs. On the other hand, Hopkins is likely to be better yet this year.

But I've always picked the Team of the Decade on the basis on consistent success rather than one single season, so:

Team of the Decade--Minnesota Lynx

Coach of the Decade

There are 4 obvious contenders--Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls, with 5 state titles this decade alone and 7 altogether; Kenny Novak, Hopkins boys, 4 state titles this decade and 7 overall; Cheryl Reeve with her 4 WNBA titles; and Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women who almost annually have won the MIAC title and managed to run deep into the D3 tournament. But, on the other hand, some of you may have noticed that I boldfaced one of these 4 coaches some time ago.

Coach of the Decade--Cheryl Reeve

Game of the Decade

OK, now, here, obviously, I'm going to be picking based on just one single event. And, wow, there have been great, great basketball games pretty much every year this decade. How can one not pick Rachel Banham's 60 point game in the Big 10? Or, the Lynx win over Indiana in Game 3 2015 on that buzzer-beater? But, I'm probably giving away my big bias in favor of high school ball when I tell you that I like the 2012 and 2014 boys state tournament games in which Osseo and then Lakeville North surprised Hopkins.

• In 2012, it was a semi-final. Hopkins was going for a record (in AAAA) 4th straight state title but was denied in 3 OT. If I remember correctly, Hopkins hit something like 13 3s, Osseo 0, and yet Osseo won. As a sidelight, as you know, Kenny Novak and Hopkins always get beat up for the allegedly large number of open enrollment kids who have played for them over the years. In this game, Hopkins had 1, Osseo had 7.

• In 2014, Lakeville North roared back in the closing minutes to beat Hopkins 84-82 as J.P. Macura scored 43 points.

Games of the Decade (tie)--
Osseo 87 Hopkins 86 (3OT), 2012 boys AAAA semi-final
Lakeville North 84 Hopkins 82, 2014 boys AAAA final

2019-2020 Season Preview: Minnesota Gopher women rated #17 nationally!

As you may or may not recall, we picked the Gopher women to finish 7^th in the Big 10 at 9-9. To be honest, that seemed just a tad generous as they finished 9-9 a year ago and of course lose their best player and playmaker in Kenisha Bell; and they lose co-starters (you might say) in Annalese Lamke and Irene Garrido Perez. 

But, then, hey, the media jumped in and picked the Gophers to finish 5^th this year, and then ESPN ranked them #17 in the nation. So, that sure makes me look a jerk.  

The Gopher women return the 6^th most points (counting Gadiva Hubbard’s 2018 numbers), the 5^th most rebounds, the 7^thmost assists and the 6^th most minutes from a team that had the 5^th most wins overall (but the 6^th most wins in the conference) a year ago. So, if that doesn’t sound like the middle of the pack, I don’t know what does. And, then, there’s this. At 40%, the Gophers return the 11^th best shooting percentage in the conference. And, therein lies the problem as well, of course, as the opportunity. All of those ordinals add up to 6.57, somewhere between 6^th and 7^th. The media has them 5^th, ESPN 2^nd in the Big 10!

Well, I hope like hell that they’re right and I’m wrong.  And I can see how they (ESPN) did it…almost. They said, uh, Lindsay Whalen! Then they said, Destiny Pitts, 1^st team all-Big 10 according to the Big 10 media. Then they said, well, no, they didn’t. That’s all they said in the online article I saw that had them at #17 in the nation. Lindsay and Destiny. So, I dunno that they really did much of a deep dive on this. And we are going to do a deep dive. Deep breath, and here we go.

Bell shot 40% for her career and 31% on 3s. But, again, she was the Gophers best player, scoring 20 ppg in both her junior and senior seasons. Lamke started as the Gophers went big the first half of the year (actually 21 of 32 games), then Perez started 14 games on the perimeter later on as the Gophers went smaller and quicker. Lamke shot 52%, Perez 38%.

Meanwhile, the returnees Pitts and Hubbard have each shot 41% and 35-36% on 3s over 2 years with the Gophers. Taiye Bello shoots 52%. Jasmine Brunson shot 37 and 23% last year. Mercedes Staples shot 34% in limited minutes, while Kehinde Bello and Barbora Tomancova shot 50% and 32% in really limited minutes. 

So, I figured, if all of the perimeter players could up their shooting percentage by 5 points—if Pitts and Hubbard improved to 46%, and Brunson improved to 42% and Staples to 39%--well, then maybe 5^th place is not out of reach. But, frankly, I figured that wasn’t going to happen, so I had them in 7^th place. Jerk. 

The Big Four

Regardless of all of that, the team’s strength figures to be returning wings Gadiva Hubbard and Destiny Pitts, who have each shot 41% and 35-36% over 2 years with the Gophers. Both are more catch-and-shoot type players, especially Pitts, who made the media’s pre-season 1^st  within reach.

And, then, 6-2 Taiye Bello shoots 52%, though she doesn’t take a lot of shots. She is, of course, a world class rebounder with an uncanny anticipation going after the ball off the offensive glass. But, she scored 10 ppg in high school. She is not going to be a big scorer. Don’t get me wrong, however. I had Bello on my pre-season 1^st all-Big 10 team, with Pitts on the 2^nd team.

But, perhaps the key player will be Jasmine Brunson. She is the 3^rd returning starter, and she’s the one who is probably going to have a new role as the primary ball handler. Last year she scored 8 ppg on 37 and 23% shooting, so I don’t know that you’re really looking for her to take many more shots. She turned it over 2X per game as the secondary ball handler, so you hope she can cut down on her turnovers per touch. And, most important of all, can she get the ball to Pitts and Hubbard and Bello on their spots? 

And, then, who’s gonna be the 5^th starter? 6-2 sophomore post Barbora Tomancova, 6-2 senior forward Kehinde Bello and 5-10 sophomore guard Mercedes Staples are the other returnees. Staples probably has the most upside. She was a 4-star recruit, #64 in her class, the #17 point guard coming out of high school. But, seriously, she is not a point guard. She didn’t show a lot of quickness last year, so her role seems to be catch-and-shoot wing, which is what Pitts and Hubbard are already doing. Maybe Tomancova, who missed most of last year with an injury. She scored 5 ppg for the Czechs in an U18 international tournament not so long ago. Still.

The Newcomers

All 3 could get passed up by the freshmen and/or other newcomers. They’re not a highly rated group, but they are a big group and there is some talent here. First, there are 3 bigs. I’m not sure whether any of them are going to play a lot as freshmen.

• Klarke Sconiers, 6-2, Queens, NY. 3-stars, #18 post, 12 ppg-12 boards with a NY state champ.

• Justice Ross, 6-0, Des Moines, IA. 3-stars, #33 wing, 16-5-4-2-2 as a senior.

• Grace Cumming, 6-3, also Des Moines. 3-stars, #42 post, 11 ppg-10 boards as a senior.

And then there’s the guards. I feel pretty sure that these 2 will play as freshmen.

• Jasmine Powell, 5-6, Detroit. 4-stars, #78 in her class, 18-8-6 as a senior with 2 state titles.

• Sara Scalia, 5-10, Stillwater, MN. 3-stars, #56 guard, 23-4-4-3. A 3-point bomber with some quickness, some ball skills, could be a versatile player. Now, I haven’t seen Powell, but by reputation, at least, Powell is ahead of Scalia.

And then there’s the newcomers who aren’t freshmen. Here, I have no real idea of what the upside is, though Sissoko’s resume is encouraging, assuming she’s not still hurting.

• Kadi Sissiko, 6-2, sophomore, Paris and Syracuse. She was rated the #10 overall player and the #2 guard in her class of 2018. She scored 9 points on 43% shooting for France in an U20 European tournament not so long ago. She went just 3-2 in 10 minutes at Syracuse and had a leg injury. Is she still the player who was rated #10 in her class? I have no idea, but it would seem that there’s some upside there.

• Masha Adaschyk, 5-11, junior, Belarus. She went 13-5-2-1 in junior college, shooting 49 and 39%. So, is there some upside there? Who knows what kind of competition that was against? 

A Starting Lineup

So long about February, here’s a guess as to who’ll be doing what.

Bigs—T. Bello starts, Sissoko is the backup.

Wing/Big—Pitts starts, Sissoko is the backup and plays with Bello when Lyndsey wants to go big.

Wings—Hubbard starts with Staples as the backup.

Point Guard—Long about February I think Powell may have moved into the primary ballhandler role. Brunson is the obvious backup except of course she starts at the other guard spot.

Combo Guard—This is the role Brunson had last year and long about February she’ll return to that role. Earlier in the year she might be at the “1” with Staples starting here. Later on, Staples backs up at the wing and at the combo guard. Scalia will also get some minutes here.

So, to answer my earlier question: I expect Powell to be the 5^th starter by year’s end, and Sissoko and Staples are #6 and #7. If, as a group they can raise the Gophers’ shooting percentage from last year’s 42 percent (and the returnees’ composite of 40 percent), then 5^th place is not out of reach. But, even 5^th place is based on Powell and Sissoko realizing much of their upside potential this year. We have no real idea if that’s a realistic expectation. 

So, we’ll say it again. 9-9 and 7^th place seems more likely. And, if I’m totally off base about Powell and Sissoko, if they’re not ready and if Scalia is not ready, then 8-10 or 7-11 is not out of the question.

Of course, I haven’t answered the question of how the Gophers rise to #17 nationally. Well, all of the above. Pitts, Hubbard, Brunson and Staples all shoot 10% better than last year, and Powell, Sissoko and Scalia all play like veterans in their 1^st year as Gophers. 

Overall, I’d say it’s 50-50 that the Gophers go 9-9. There’s a 25% chance that they’re better than that, and a 25% chance they’re not that good. 

"He Got Screwed:" The Strange Case of Hurricane Julie and Basketball Coach and Kindergarten Teacher Nathan McGuire

If you’re a basketball fan, a recent opinion of the Minnesota Supreme Court may have caught your eye. It’s not every day that high school sports finds its way on to the news pages. The Supreme Court decided that high school coaches are not public officials and that they therefore have the right to sue parents who tell lies about them. 

With no disrespect to the news media involved, the reporting of this complicated case has been pretty episodic. Here’s what happened today. But, wait! I forget! What happened yesterday? What’s the whole story again?

Well, here’s the whole story, again, the strange tale of Hurricane Julie Bowlin and former Woodbury girls basketball coach and still kindergarten teacher Nathan McGuire. 

Meet Nathan McGuire

So, first, let’s meet Nathan McGuire, who has taught kindergarten in the South Washington County School District since 1998, and still does. He is also a middle school track coach, since 2001. He has six or seven years experience, now, as a girls head basketball coach at Henry Sibley and Holy Angels; and, from the fall of 2012 through January 2014, at Woodbury; and more recently at Minneapolis South. 

Meet Brooke Bowlin

Before we meet Hurricane Julie Bowlin, we should meet her daughter Brooke because, in the beginning, there was Brooke. Brooke Bowlin is a great athlete, make no mistake about that. She’s now playing softball, and apparently playing very well, at St. Cloud State. In fact, she and her siblings are all great athletes. Older brother Tom played wheelchair basketball at Southwest State. Matt played football at Augsburg. Younger sister Nicole plays basketball at Holy Family, as did Brooke.

But, first, back in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, Brooke played varsity basketball as a 7^th and 8^th grader at Holy Angels scoring 5 and 5.5 points per game. Not bad for a 7^th and 8^th grader. In 2011-2012, her head coach was—wait for it—Nathan McGuire, but in 2012-2013, he moved over to Woodbury, in the school district in which he already worked as a teacher and a track coach. 

Then, in the fall of 2013, Brooke Bowlin transferred to Woodbury high to play basketball, once again, for Nathan McGuire. But, this time, all hell broke loose.

Meet the Co-Defendants

But, before we meet Hurricane Julie Bowlin, it is also chronologically correct to introduce her co-defendants because McGuire’s troubles appear to have begun even before Hurricane Julie hit Woodbury. According to an earlier court decision that came before the Supreme Court decision cited above—this was a decision that denied McGuire’s request for reinstatement as Woodbury coach—the court states that “we accept as true the following factual allegations.” The factual allegations in question included that coach McGuire and his staff had decided not to include a player on their 2013 post-season roster “because she acted disrespectfully toward a referee” in a previous game. (A Woodbury parent said she often swore at referees from the bench.)

The girl’s mother, Joy Szondy, and another player’s parent, Chelon Danielson, complained to the Woodbury administration that the coaches had lied about the girls’ behavior, said the court. The girl herself, who has a different last name, and Danielson’s daughter were on the Woodbury roster throughout the 2012-2013 regular season but neither, according to another Woodbury parent, “was very good.” Aaliyah Danielson was in fact an outstanding soccer player and played one year of college soccer at the U. of North Dakota. But, basketball, again, according to a Woodbury parent who saw every game that year, not so much. But Danielson’s mom and Szondy of course thought their daughters were terrific and should have been playing a lot more minutes than they did. They would know!

Meet Hurricane Julie Bowlin

This particular storm was probably on its way to blowing over, however, when Hurricane Julie hit. As we have noted, in the fall of 2013, Brooke Bowlin transferred from Holy Angels to Woodbury. Well, technically, this was not a transfer. Kids, even athletes, can go wherever they want when they enter the 9^thgrade, and the Bowlins decided that Brooke would play for her former head coach at Holy Angels, now at Woodbury. She is listed on a pre-season roster published in the Breakdown Guidebook for 2013-2014. Mom, according to that Woodbury parent, assumed that Brooke would waltz into Woodbury and be handed a starring role on the girls basketball team, and was utterly incensed to find that Brooke would be expected to earn her playing time, like everybody else.

Now, keep in mind, Woodbury was not a bad team. They had gone 19-10 the year before, losing to St. Paul Central in the Section 4AAAA final. And, they started 2013-2014 at 5-1 before things fell apart. So, when Bowlin, a 5-8 freshman guard, arrived at Woodbury in the fall of 2013, the Royals were not exactly bereft of guards. They also had Kayla Bilksi, a 5-9 junior who went on to score 9.5 ppg that year. They also had senior captain Kailey Hakes, who went on to score 9 ppg before tearing her ACL, and they had 5-3 junior Madi Yochum, who went on to score 6 ppg that year. And, they already had a promising group of underclassmen before Bowlin arrived. They included Cecile Kieger, who went on to score 9 ppg as a freshman and (later) 16 as a senior; and Elizabeth Jordahl and Ellie Kriebich, who scored 5 and 3.5 ppg as freshmen; and guards Elizabeth Edinger and Rachel Hakes, who scored 5 and 2.5 ppg as 8^thgraders, but went on to score 12 and 20 points as seniors (Edinger at Cretin as it turned out, Hakes at Woodbury).

Bowlin, by way of comparison, scored 5 ppg as a freshman after becoming eligible at Holy Family and scored 14 ppg as a senior (against Class AA competition while the Woodbury girls, of course, faced Class AAAA competition for the most part).

With all of this talent, it hardly seems to have been an obviously ridiculous idea not to hand a starting job to the newcomer, Bowlin, but to spread the minutes around in the fall of 2013 to see which combinations worked the best. And that’s what coach McGuire and his assistants did. And, keep in mind, this was in the fall, long before a single official game had been played.

But, according to the same court opinion cited above, “Julie and Tom Bowlin complained to the school and the district because their daughter was not getting enough playing time.” RiverTowns.net (September 4, 2015) provides other details. 

“Before a game was played in the 2013-14 season, a meeting was held with the girl, her parents, the high school principal, the athletic director, two assistant coaches and McGuire during which the parents complained about playing time, the lawsuit alleges. The coaching staff hadn’t decided who had made the team, who would start and how playing time would be handled. Still, the parents wanted an update about their child’s status on the team.

“McGuire said the Bowlins talked to an influential parent in the program, leaving the other parent with the impression that they were trying to get the head coach fired, the lawsuit alleges. The parents demanded high school administration remove McGuire as head coach, then got the Minnesota Department of Education involved.

“The player attended one more practice. Within a week the player had transferred, without competing for Woodbury.”

Before leaving Woodbury, the Bowlins had found kindred spirits in Joy Szondy and Chelon Danielson. The court further acknowledged that the three moms “continued to seek McGuire’s removal even after their daughters were no longer playing on the team.” Szondy’s daughter had graduated. Danielson’s had quit basketball.

Category 5

As a result of the complaints, McGuire was not merely non-renewed as coach for the following season. He was suspended in the middle of the 2013-2014 season, on January 4, 2014, based on what at that time were called “unnamed allegations.” As noted above, the team was 5-1 when this happened. The won just one game and lost 19 the rest of the season. In March, the school board voted to non-renew his coaching contract, which action did not affect his status as a kindergarten teacher. By the time of his first court case, the allegations that were addressed by the court were that he had benched one girl and hadn’t handed a starting position to Brooke Bowlin, and he challenged the non-renewal on the basis that these parental complaints were not valid grounds for the dismissal. 

The court found that the school district was within its rights to non-renew McGuire for any reason whatsoever, whether they were true, false or whatever.

But, it had been clear enough to McGuire for some time that there was more to the “unnamed allegations” than what had in fact been named. 

Early on, according to a Woodbury parent, the other girls were called into an interview, one by one, with a representative of the school administration. Did coach McGuire swear?, they were asked. Had he touched them inappropriately? Did he flirt with the girls? Well, at least one girl said, well, of course he swears. Every coach swears. But, did he touch anyone inappropriately? Did he flirt? The parent was pretty sure that everybody said, No way, because, well, no way. The idea that they would even ask such questions was shocking, or stupid, or both.

Based on this line of questioning, however, it became clear that the Bowlins and the Danielson and the Szondys had accused him of inappropriate touching and flirting and other inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature. The Bowlins and Danielsons filed “maltreatment-of-minors” complaints against McGuire with the state Department of Education. I am not aware that the precise nature of these complaints is public and I have not seen or heard what was claimed. But, I do know that the Department was legally bound to investigate, and it found no evidence that either girl had been “maltreated.” 

That did not slow down Hurricane Julie Bowlin, however. Later, she told other parents that McGuire had been put in jail and that he had also been involved in the theft of funds.

Sometime during all of this, McGuire’s house was pelted by eggs, an attack that traumatized McGuire’s young children, according to a Woodbury parent. The Danielson and Szondy daughters were identified by Woodbury police as the perpetrators. A Woodbury parent thought they were arrested.

The Bowlins have been remarkably “vindictive” toward McGuire, totally out of proportion to McGuire’s alleged offense, the Woodbury parent concluded, but they were “a weird family” from the beginning. Perhaps this egging incident helps understand why McGuire has been as “vindictive” in return as he has been, said the parent, assuming that a defamation lawsuit is “vindicative.” “Justice” might, of course, be another word for it.

I should add that in addition to being suspended in January 2014 and then non-renewed in March, McGuire’s career may have been further damaged. A Woodbury parent told me that he understood that McGuire was a finalist for the Stillwater girls head coaching job in the spring of 2014. Actually, he said that McGuire was as good as hired, though I cannot vouch for that. Gerard Coury had left to coach the Park Center boys. But, the Woodbury administration gave the Stillwater people a “no comment” when they called to ask about McGuire’s non-renewal, and this scared the Stillwater folks away from McGuire.

Stillwater, of course, hired a coach other than McGuire. The irony of the whole situation is that one of Stillwater’s current assistants, former Stillwater boys coach and former AD Sherm Danielson, is the father of Chelon Danielson and the grandfather of Aaliyah Danielson, who helped the Bowlins to torment Nathan McGuire as he got swept up in Hurricane Julie. A giant coincidence? I am not aware of any wrongdoing by Danielson or anyone else at Stillwater. 

Commentary

So, to clarify, McGuire first sued the school district to try to get his job back. The fact is that he was fired—OK, non-renewed—because he pissed off the Bowlins. All that stuff about inappropriate touching was obviously BS. If the school district had believed for a moment that the charges of sexual impropriety had any validity whatsoever, then they would be guilty of gross malfeasance in allowing McGuire to continue to teach kindergartners, which is, however, what they did. So, they knew that those charges were false, and yet they gave aid and comfort to the lying liars and threw Nathan McGuire under the bus. 

As a Woodbury parent said, “He got screwed, because of the way (the school district) handled it.”

Now, sure, the Bowlins were “vindictive” and told vicious lies about a good man. So, yeah, they screwed him, too, I suppose. The harm to Nathan McGuire’s reputation originated with the lies the Bowlins told. But their impact in the community would have been mostly defused if the school district had stood by him and said that, you know, these things you’ve heard about coach McGuire? They’re lies. They’re not true. Instead, the school district did everything it could to signal that there might have been some truth to the Bowlins’ lies. Thanks a lot.

So, shame on the Woodbury school district. Just because the court said that they can fire whomever they like for any reason doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it good. Giving aid and comfort to sociopaths cannot be good for your community.

So, then, McGuire sued the Bowlins, Szondys and Danielsons for defamation. He lost at the district and appeals court levels not on the merits of the case but because the courts found him to be a public official. The Supreme Court said, no. Just because he works for a public entity does not mean that he or any other coach is a public official. He’s got nothing to say about laws and ordinances and policing and public policy and all of the other activities that are fundamental to governing. He’s a basketball coach, for Christ sakes. And, as the court said, “Basketball is not fundamental to democracy.” (Some, of course, might argue this point.)

So, take note, you can no longer call your kid’s coach a sexual predator or a thief or a jailbird because he or she isn’t giving your kid enough minutes! And, if you do that, be aware that you are not in the right. Nobody thinks you are in the right. You are a sociopath.

But, this case also raises the question of how Brooke Bowlin became eligible to play basketball and other sports at Holy Family in 2013-2014. According to the MSHSL, student-athletes who transfer after the first day of 9^th grade have to give up a year of eligibility. Bowlin’s “transfer” from Holy Angels to Woodbury wasn’t really a transfer because she was entering 9^thgrade. But, the transfer to Holy Family a month later is a different thing. In theory, she shouldn’t have been eligible to play that year. And, in fact, she did not play until the final game of the regular season at the end of February. So, apparently, there was some delay and some discussion about her eligibility status. And, if she was transferring because she wasn't getting enough playing time, it's hard to see the MSHSL having much sympathy for that. On the other hand, if she transferred because of inappropriate touching or something like that, well....

So, in conclusion, now that McGuire’s defamation case against Hurricane Julie is again free to move forward, a decent person can only hope that he wins a large financial settlement so that other sociopaths will think twice about ripping apart an community, a school, an athletic program, a basketball team, just because your kid ain’t the queen of the hop.