PGH High School Coach of the Year: Mary Dengerud

Everyone and their dog at the State Tournament was talking about the defending Class 3A state champions from Becker. There was plenty of buzz about the high-flying Cougars of St. Paul Como Park and [player_tooltip player_id="177728" first="Olivia" last="Olson"]’s Benilde-St. Margaret’s squad. The Southern half of the state was rooting for Austin and Mankato East. But almost nobody was talking about Totino-Grace. That turned out to be a mistake – a very big mistake – because the parochial school from Fridley was quietly going about the business of preparing for their moment in the sun. The brains of the operation was second-year head coach Mary Dengerud, a low-key leader with a long history of success who instilled a special kind of belief in her players while preaching the gospel of defense. All of those elements came together last Saturday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis when the T-G Eagles were crowned 3A state champions. As a result, we are pleased today to name Coach Dengerud as our Prep Girls Hoops High School Coach of the Year. The win was a family affair as Mary’s daughter – senior and Concordia-St. Paul commit [player_tooltip player_id="109138" first="Leah" last="Dengerud"] – combined with standout senior [player_tooltip player_id="109145" first="Hannah" last="Herzig"] to lead the team to victory while her older daughter – Samantha Dengerud – served as an assistant coach. Herzig said the coaching staff laid the groundwork for success early on. “Our coaches did a really good job at the start of the season of preaching that we will play as a team and everyone is equally as important whether you play 36 minutes or 0,” said the MSU-Mankato commit. “We were always happy for our teammates’ success and never made it about ourselves. I think that really helped us in the long run because we were playing for each other.” Right from the opening week of the season at the Twin Cities Thanksgiving Tipoff, the Eagles looked like a different team. Leah and Hannah busted out of the chute with a couple of stellar performances and the group was truly playing like a unit. Over the course of the season it continued, and the improvement in the supporting cast – players like <strong>Abby Lord</strong>, <strong>Caroline Schlaefer</strong>, <strong>Itoro Etuko</strong> and <strong>Grace Spevacek</strong> – was noticeable. Herzig rose to an entirely different level, and she credits the coach for that improvement. “After transferring to T-G my junior year, Mary had me playing point guard,” Herzig explained. “I think that decision ultimately led me to have such successful junior and senior years offensively. She gave me the opportunity to become more of a leader on the team and gave me a sense of responsibility that I don’t think I would have gotten if I stayed in my previous position.” That faith paid off as Totino-Grace returned to state for the first time since 2009 after winning in 2008. One person who isn’t at all surprised by the Eagles success is Dan Wolfe, long-time assistant coach at Gustavus Adolphus College and a former Prep Girls Hoops AAU Coach of the Year with the Minnesota Rise. He coached with Mary for over a decade at New Ulm Cathedral when Wolfe had the boys team and Dengerud coached the girls. “Mary always had a defensive mindset and it showed against Becker,” Wolfe said. “She is a foundational coach. She always emphasized effort, aggressive defense that would transition into early offense, and team basketball. She never overlooked the fundamentals.” Beyond the Xs and Os, Dengerud is great at building positive culture which is so important, particularly in girls basketball programs. “She is a great communicator, an excellent educator, and she always puts her athletes first,” Wolfe said. “Mary builds her players confidence and develops a strong level of trust that allows her players to play free and play together. Her strong faith life is present and a key component in leading her players and team spiritually. My wife and I were blessed to have had our daughter Jackie play for Mary. She left an impact and legacy in her tenure at New Ulm Cathedral.” After finishing with a record of 10-8 in the pandemic-shortened season one year ago, the Eagles ended this year with a record of 23-8. They knocked off Hill-Murray to win the Section 4AAA crown, defeated Detroit Lakes in the state quarterfinals, and then put together an impressive 86-72 victory against Como Park. It was their masterful performance in the championship game against Becker that is truly indicative of Mary Dengerud’s work. As our colleague Tony Ragulen wrote in his recap of Class 3A, “The entire team needs to be recognized for their defensive effort in slowing down the Becker Bulldogs 5-guard attack. Totino-Grace did a great job chasing the Bulldogs off the 3-point line and cutting off driving lanes to prevent the drive-and-kick looks that Becker had become accustomed to... Hats off to the Eagles as they executed their defensive game plan to perfection.” Indeed. And hats off to Mary Dengerud, our Minnesota High School Coach of the Year. <strong>RUNNER-UP</strong> <strong>Jeremy Post – White Bear Lake</strong> On paper it doesn’t compute. On the court, however, Coach Post put together a winning formula that produced spectacular results. The way the Bears win isn’t pretty, but a W is a W is a W even if it has a little dust and dirt on it. Jeremy has been at White Bear Lake forever and the program’s record speaks for itself with seven trips to the State Tournament in nine years through 2017 with many different types of teams. To get back to the Big Dance this year seemed improbable until the Bears knocked out East Ridge and dethroned Stillwater in section play and then defeated their mirror image from Rosemount in the state quarterfinals. Along the way gifted senior [player_tooltip player_id="147451" first="Nevaeh" last="Hughes"] played her best basketball yet, senior [player_tooltip player_id="388033" first="Lauren" last="Eckerle"] took her game to a new level and talented youngsters [player_tooltip player_id="339107" first="Jordyn" last="Schmittdiel"], <strong>Addison Post</strong> and <strong>Abigail O’Brien</strong> learned how to win on the biggest stage of all. The supporting cast was solid. Credit to Coach Post, who somehow figures out a way to get the job done year after year. <strong>HONORABLE MENTIONS</strong> <strong>Tara Starks – Hopkins</strong> You can’t win without talent, and Hopkins has plenty of that. But even with a roster loaded with Division 1 athletes it takes a special kind of leadership to get everyone moving in the same direction at the same time. Coach Starks certainly did that, going undefeated in Minnesota and winning a State Championship in just her second season while involving a large number of athletes to help the team succeed. <strong>Juan Mitchell – Shakopee </strong> If there’s one theme among this year’s honorees it is a commitment to D-E-F-E-N-S-E. That was certainly true for Coach Mitchell’s crew in Shakopee who carried a 21-game winning streak into the tournament while holding every opponent under 50 points. Mitchell did a great job of melding core seniors [player_tooltip player_id="109179" first="Kate" last="Cordes"], [player_tooltip player_id="109183" first="Maya" last="Mitchell"] and [player_tooltip player_id="223918" first="Jasmyn" last="Hale"] with sophomore standouts [player_tooltip player_id="215985" first="Olivia" last="Pawlicki"] and [player_tooltip player_id="215969" first="Nicole" last="Maenke"], and the results were impressive. <strong>Tanysha Scott – Roseville</strong> In her second season in Roseville, Coach Scott really put her stamp on the team and helped her seniors raise their game to new heights. [player_tooltip player_id="148311" first="Hattie" last="Mae DeVries"], [player_tooltip player_id="109189" first="Hannah" last="Heffernan"], <strong>Gabby Kopp</strong> and [player_tooltip player_id="109208" first="Makayla" last="Adams"] played crucial roles that helped their team get to the final four while standout guards  [player_tooltip player_id="108324" first="Drew" last="Johnston"] and [player_tooltip player_id="215968" first="Kendall" last="Barnes"] gained a ton of confidence to lead the way. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: The entire Dengerud clan was involved in the Totino-Grace state title including (left to right) Jerry, Mary, Leah and Samantha.</em></span>