Rising to the top: Dan Wolfe named AAU Coach of the Year

Maybe it was the bracelet-making sessions, the pre-practice sharing circles or Liza Wortz’s never-ending run of comedic interludes. Whatever the special ingredients involved, the 2019 version of the Minnesota Rise had a memorable summer with five tournament victories, a 17-game winning streak and a run of performance that exceeded all expectations. Behind it all was coach Dan Wolfe, a veteran leader who pulled all the right strings at just the right times. In a year when so many coaches accomplished so much it was Wolfe who rose to the top, and for that we have selected Dan as the Prep Girls Hoops 2019 AAU Coach of the Year. “Wow! That’s quite a compliment because there are a lot of really good coaches out there,” said a very surprised Wolfe. “There are a lot of really good people working in AAU, and we have a lot of really good coaches in the Rise program, but it always begins with your players.” “He definitely deserves it!” said the best player of the bunch, New Ulm’s Joey Batt. “He knows how to get the most out of every player.” [caption id="attachment_10506" align="alignleft" width="207"] Associate Head Coach Dan Wolfe of Gustavus-Adolphus College[/caption] There’s no question that Wolfe had some nice talent to work with. Batt, the 13th-ranked player in the class of 2019, has committed to MSU-Mankato. It is highly likely that Madison Gehloff (#30) of Waseca and Caitlin Rorman (#47) of Blue Earth will also play at the D2 level. The success of this squad, however, was definitely a collective effort as a group of lunch-pail athletes from south central Minnesota became a single formidable unit. “It was a very special group of kids,” Wolfe said. “Just the trust that they built, the authentic ‘we like each other’ feeling is something that was very special. The relationships that the kids had with each other was our driving force. They had each other’s backs. We knew if we were struggling at some points that we would get through it together. That is something that I am really proud of.” “What you see on the surface is only part of it” After being snowed out of their first tournament of the season, the Rise entered a last-minute makeup event and won it on point differential of all things. “It was kind of weird,” Wolfe said. From there they compiled a record of 33-7, including a 19-3 run down the stretch. They won hardware at the Battle on the Hardwood in Hastings, the Miss Basketball event in Mankato, as well in Iowa and Chicago. Their only stumble was at the state tournament where the Rise struggled in games where their best players were missing due to high school softball. Wolfe described his team as the proverbial iceberg. “What you seen on the surface is only part of it,” he said. “We are not overly big, we don’t have great length, we’re not super athletic but the huge part of the iceberg is below the surface. For us that is our character and the personal relationships the kids had with each other. That kind of elevated us to another level on the court and allowed those kids to really get the most out of themselves.” Batt was their undisputed leader. The highly-skilled senior-to-be may be a tad undersized at 5’5 but she makes up for it with infectious intensity that spilled over to every other player on the roster. “It was a lot of fun,” Batt said. “We have great team chemistry so we play really well together. It was fun to win, obviously, and ‘Wolfy’ always pushed us in practice to be better. He stresses teamwork a lot. He makes us huddle and put our arms around each other. That isn’t always the best because we are sweaty!” she said with a laugh, “but he likes to symbolize a lot of teamwork and he tries to get us to spend as much time together as we can when we are not playing.” Rorman concurred. "Out of my five seasons with the Rise this one was my favorite, from the friendships I made to all of the new experiences we shared," she said. "This was such an incredible team with amazing talent and we played really well together. Coach Wolfe was able to make it fun while challenging us to get better individually and as a team." Gehloff agreed. "My experience with the Rise was nothing short of amazing," she said. Wolfe is the associate head coach at D3 Gustavus-Adolphus College in St. Peter where he works with head coach Laurie Kelly, one of the best in the business. Dan was a head coach for 19 years at the high school level (boys and girls) and this is definitely not his first coach of the year award. “You know I have been at this for 39 years now. This will be my 40th year coaching and you just don’t get a group of kids like this very often,” he said. “I think it was just a great bunch of kids who didn’t really have a personal agenda. From day one they really made it a great experience for themselves. Basketball was important to them but it wasn’t the only thing.”