Best coach in the state

[ndfan]

Who's the best Head coach in the State? Just some names to put out there in no particular order.

Jay Gibson (West Fargo)
Kevin Feeney (Fargo South)
Mike Berg (Grand Forks Central)
Rod Oksendahl (Cavalier)
Larry Sandy (Velva)
Randy Gordon (Dickinson Trinity)

Those are just some names that come to mind, im sure there others. What does everyone else think?

[NDSportsFan]

 My vote is Larry Sandy, Velva usually plays like a finely tuned machine.  The school isn't that big but they get the most out of their athletes.  Same with Oksendahl I'd put him a close #2.

[Irisheyes]

It would sure be hard to say anyone more than Larry Sandy.  He adapts to all his different type teams and really has dominated all coaches in a sense.  Yeah, he has had great players come and go, but he is always in the dome at the end of the year.  Congrats to him.  Oksendahl is one heck of a coach also.

[ndfan]

Randy Gordon would be tough to vote against at Dickinson Trinity. Dominated in 2000-01 going back to back not losing a game. Then the next three years only losing four games, three of them to state champion Cavalier Tornadoes and one to Bottineau. Then winning it all again this year. Its one of the top programs in the state year in and year out.

[Irisheyes]

I totally agree.  They are all very good coaches.  It would be a very tough thing to convince other people that one is better than the other.  I also new some guys that played for Gibson at West Fargo and they said he was great.  Tough choices.

[Y-not Daily]

Hard to argue with Larry Sandy. The way Velva beat Cavalier this season was pretty unbelievable. It was pretty apparent to me that Cavalier had more pure talent.

What about 9-man coaches? The guys in Crosby have always seemed to have their team in contention. Sometimes with very good talent, some times with average talent.

[bballcrasher]

Randy Gordon would be tough to vote against at Dickinson Trinity. Dominated in 2000-01 going back to back not losing a game. Then the next three years only losing four games, three of them to state champion Cavalier Tornadoes and one to Bottineau. Then winning it all again this year. Its one of the top programs in the state year in and year out.

I don't know if I'd fully agree with you, yes Trinity is a dominating team, but is it the athletes at the school that make them great, the other coaches, or the head coach. Trinity has two of the best assistants in the state calling the offense and defense, who have both been there from the beginning.

 

[Irisheyes]

The guys at Divide County are very good.  I think Randy Vigen at Central Valley, Tim Pfeifer in Rolette, and the guys in Edgeley-Kulm and Linton must be pretty good as well.  One other that comes to mind is the guy up in North Border, Carpenter?  Moving from 9-man to A last year, made the playoffs and challenged Velva in the playoffs to a good, close game.  The guy in Westhope has had a couple of good years.  I think he is a new up and coming coach.  I was also impressed with Richland's coaches.

[ndfan]

Randy Vigen is a great coach i played for him when i was a freshmen. A up and coming coach that will be good is coach Starcevic from Larimore. I was really impressed how he had his team playing at the end of the year last year.

[Y-not Daily]

Good call on the North Border guy. Tom Nesvold is the Westhope coach. They should be good next year as well.

How about Fred Fridley??? He has had some subpar seasons lately, but my prediction is that Watford City wins the Class AA title next season.

[Irisheyes]

Ahh, yes... Fridley will have another great team next year. One more that has had good years is Grochow from Rugby. He has done an excellant job there as well. Isn't Hazen going to be good with some younger players returning?

[point/center]

Todd Kosel and Randy Klusman from Edgeley and Kulm. Couple guy's doing a fine job producing regardless of the talent. Same for Imedieke at Linton. I enjoy watching teams coached by the Sandy's and Feeney's. Jay Gibson has a good system to. Tim Schaefer at Ray is an up and comer.

[NATURAL TALENT]

Jeff Carpenter from North Border is a good coach, I played for him in Leeds for a couple of years and you wont find a better friend/coach. Always intense on the field and quiet off the field.

Dwight Leier was one of the best coaches in the state, still is, even though he has been retired for a couple of years now.

[TNT]

Larry Sandy and the Velva coaching staff are the top coaches in the state.  They do an excellent job of changing the defense every week to take away the strengths of the other team’s offense.  By changing the defense every week the other team has no chance to get a feel for what they are going to do on defense.  Also by changing the defense they do not just change the look.  They change personal and you never know if they are going to play aggressive or play read and react.  

The offense changes to the talent using a variety of ways to get the ball into the play maker’s hands.  From quick hitting full back traps to play action passes the offense uses every possible way to confuse the defense.   Larry Sandy’s offense does not have that many plays but they confuse the other team with a new wrinkle every week and using a lot of formations.  

Every Velva football team is very sound in fundamentals and never wears down during the course of the game, even versus much bigger competition.  The team improves every week due to the hard work of the players and the coaches leading them in the right direction.  Larry Sandy’s teams are defensive orientated and if he gets a lead in a game he will run the ball and run the clock down.  I do not know the facts for sure but great coaches win big games. Larry Sandy’s has 5 out of the last 6 state titles and has won 22 out of 23 games in the playoffs in the last 6 years.   

[Wild Wolves]

Linton coaching staff has been together since Moby dude was a minnow.  They have had a great deal of consistency regardless of the class they have played.

[Irisheyes]

Since Moby dude was a minnow?  That is great.  My new favorite saying.  Good one.  How long has the guy been coacing in Richland?  They as a staff did a great job.  How about In AA, isn't hazen a team to beat also?  How are the Sandy's going to be next year?  We will see how good that region really is.  Who is the guy coaching in Larimore.  He has had some good years.

[exwestcoach]

I feel Dan Smrekar from Bismarck St. Mary's should also be considered. Granted the last number of years have been tough, but he is the longest tenured, at least in class A coach in the state. His teams from the 80's and 90's were at times borderline awesome, especially defensively. He has had some tremendous footballers go through that system. Don't leave him off of any list, he does more with limited resources than any coach I have ever seen.  What about Bob Feeney of Bismarck High, Sid Cichy of perienial power Fargo Shanley. 

[exwestcoach]

I have had the luxury of knowing Jay Gibson from West Fargo for a while. I think he has the ability to relate to his players at a level that all the great coaches in this column can. I feel he will be the next great class A coaching legend. 

[rep]

kind of off-topic, but i'll throw out an older name, he's been retired from coaching for a couple years...rod macdonald from mayville.

the man was pretty amazing at getting talent out of kids. i think about the only knock on his teams were that they were generally slow starters, but by the end of the year, they were the kind of physical teams that no one wanted to face.

also, i got a chance to be coached by jim howson (not sure on spelling) for a year at mayville state...the man was a quarterbacks coach by trade, but that year he ended up working with the offensive line...i believe he coached high school at hatton, probably for 20-plus years, but i'm not certain.

anyone know of him and can back me up with concrete data?

[B]

Kevin Dockter from Underwood.  Hasn't had the most talent the last few years due to enrollment but he does a great job with the kids he has.  Awesome in the 80's and he's still there.

Crosby coaches do a very nice job with their kids.

Imdieke does a great job with his kids at Linton.

Retired, Mike Schatz of New England , WOW,  had 4 cousins from the same family that played under him.  They were all at least 2 years apart and I think all of them played in at least a semi-final game.

[ballgame12]

how about barry holman from minot. he came in, this being his first year with only two returning starters and put together a team that reached the semifinals.

[Ming01]

Almost any coach could of done that with the large amount of kids to choose from.

[ndfan]

[user=521]ballgame12[/user] wrote:

how about barry holman from minot. he came in, this being his first year with only two returning starters and put together a team that reached the semifinals.

He's a new guy so lets see what how he does in the next 5 years. They should have a state title contending team this year so lets see him and his team get it done this year.

[secretpotion]

I believe Larry Sandy backed up by his defensive coordinator Mike Thingstad will stay upstoppable.  Since they did shut down Matt Anderson one of the better backs i have seen.  He did very well in the Mon-Dak game.

[hunter48]

I would say that Larry Sandy of Velva and Lynn Enget of Stanley have to be the best two Class A coaches in the state.   Only those two coaches have won a state A championship since 1997 I believe.