Coach of the Year: Jeff Buffetta, Mountain Iron-Buhl

There are plenty of dedicated girl's basketball coaches in Minnesota, program leaders who put in countless hours year-round to help their teams be successful. You'd have a hard time, though, finding anyone who invests more time and energy in his students' success than Jeff Buffetta of Mountain Iron-Buhl. Buffetta has grown multiple generations of top performers up on the Iron Range for 25 years now and lately he's been coaching the MIB boys' team, too. Now, after being a regular at the State Tournament for the past decade, Buffetta has finally won a Class A state championship. We're pleased to honor Jeff as our Prep Girls Hoops Coach of the Year.   The news certainly made his players happy. “That's amazing. He deserves it 100 percent,” said senior [player_tooltip player_id='352774' first='Sage' last='Ganyo']. “He's put in all of the work all these years. He's just stayed by our side all this time. Since kindergarten he has always been there for each and every single one of us and he deserves it more than anyone in the world.” Junior [player_tooltip player_id='461340' first='Hali' last='Savela'] agreed. “He is just so dedicated to all of us,” she said. “He just really deserves this.”   A dream come true   The moment the final buzzer sounded at Williams Arena in the Rangers' championship win over BOLD, the players burst into tears, ran onto the raised court in a euphoric celebration, and counted their blessings. “Everything that we worked for all year, to finally see it come true and pay off, it was like ‘Thank God!'” Savela said. “I was kind of in shock.”   “You've seen the pictures of us on the bench,” said Ganyo. “We were sobbing. We actually did it. Our dream finally came true. It was just the best feeling ever. It meant the world to me as a senior, to have all of my teammates help me to accomplish something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid.”   “I think it means the world to this community,” said junior [player_tooltip player_id='178277' first='Jordan' last='Zubich'].   None of this would have been possible if not for Buffetta, whose intensity and gruff demeanor are well-known. There are those who think he pushes the Rangers girls too much, that he expects more than is reasonable. That's not how the state champions view him… although the coach may have been a little frightening when they were younger. “I was definitely scared of him,” Zubich said with a laugh. “He was also our 5th and 6th grade history teacher. He's kind of scary in the classroom, too.”   Savela remembers going to Buffetta's backyard court when she was very young, tagging along with her sister for shooting workouts. Ganyo used to attend three-on-three games with her older sister. All three of the girls joined the MIB youth basketball program when they were in kindergarten. Over time they came to realize that the coach wasn't quite as menacing as they first thought. “I would describe him as a big teddy bear, Zubich said. “He has a hard shell but once you know who he is he is not scary.”   This year, in particular, Buffetta seemed more mellow than usual. Maybe that helped push the team across the finish line to capture the biggest prize of all. “I think just because of the way I'm wired it brought him out of his shell a little bit more with this team,” said Zubich, the University of North Carolina commit who is MIB's alpha dog. “I joke with him that he's getting soft in his old age, but he just really kind of opened up with this group this year. We got him to do all sorts of things he hadn't done before. He did a TikTok. He takes selfies now. He's just a lot more involved, not just on the court but also off the court."   RUNNER-UP   Patrick Leslie – North St. Paul   Leslie didn't win a conference championship. He didn't get his team into the State Tournament, either. What the North St. Paul coach accomplished was a whole lot more important than that. Leslie, who came here from Texas a couple of years ago, changed some kids' lives forever. Up from the ashes, he took a long-suffering program, convinced a few players to take part, sold them on the far-fetched idea that winning was possible for the Polars, and then went out and did it. Along the way, the kids gained basketball skills and learned the value of teamwork. They also discovered self-belief, the importance of community, the benefits of hard work, and the reward that can be had when you embrace goals and dreams.   North finished 19-8, falling in the Section 4AAA semifinals to Hill-Murray. What they gained, however, will stay with them forever. At least two of his players are going to play college basketball next season because of Coach Leslie – guard [player_tooltip player_id='569462' first='Maggie' last='Jones'] at NIACC in Iowa and forward [player_tooltip player_id='436087' first='Lakesha' last='Thomas'] at Black Hawk College in Illinois – and more are sure to follow. The lessons learned and memories made will stay with them forever. Coaches play an important role in the lives of the young ladies who play for them. Nobody epitomizes that more than Coach Leslie.   HONORABLE MENTIONS   Tim Ellefson – Benilde-St. Margaret's   Ellefson gave up a sweet thing in Hutchinson when he left behind the only program he'd ever coached for a new challenge in the big city. Everyone wondered if the veteran bench boss could mold a championship team out of a talented-but-disconnected group of stars at Benilde-St. Margaret's. Ellefson's season of fits and starts, trial and error, and many ups and downs culminated in a Class 3A State Championship. Every risk has its rewards and Ellefson reaped the big one in March.   Ryan Liffrig – Stewartville   There were a thousand happy onlookers at Williams Arena when Stewartville knocked off Becker to advance to the Class 3A state championship game. Nobody in the gym was more excited, more boisterous, more exuberant than the Tigers' coach. Liffrig had reason to be pleased having led his team to the State Tournament for the first time and watching them play their best basketball in March. Stewie fell in the final in a two-possession game but finished the year at 29-3. Liffrig has built something special in his eight years as head coach, compiling a career record of 141-76 along the way.   Kent Hamre – St. Michael-Albertville   Kent is one of those coaches who can beat your team's brains out year after year and you'd still like the guy. A lot. Hamre is a class act who teaches his players to be the same. Yes, he's had a great pool of talent over the years, benefiting from a huge influx of families in the area during the past decade. He has also brought the diverse talent pool together, taught them how to play the right way, and continued to reach for the top. Hamre's girls finally got there this season by winning the Class 4A state championship. After 19 seasons at the helm, he boasts a winning percentage of 77.6% and a record of 405-117.   Kristina Anderson – Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa   I have deep admiration for those Class 1A and 2A programs that seem to have success year after year regardless of how the talent pool varies over time. Anderson is one of the those coaches. The work she has done at BBE is truly impressive. Her Jaguars suffered through an injury-plagued rollercoaster of a season last winter but rebounded this year to make their third trip to the State Tournament in the past four years, going 27-5 and losing by just 4 points to the eventual champs from Mountain Iron-Buhl. Anderson boasts a 12-year record of 217-103.

There are plenty of dedicated girl's basketball coaches in Minnesota, program leaders who put in countless hours year-round to help their teams be successful. You'd have a hard time, though, finding anyone who invests more time and energy in his students' success than Jeff Buffetta of Mountain Iron-Buhl. Buffetta has grown multiple generations of top performers up on the Iron Range for 25 years now and lately he's been coaching the MIB boys' team, too. Now, after being a regular at the State Tournament for the past decade, Buffetta has finally won a Class A state championship. We're pleased to honor Jeff as our Prep Girls Hoops Coach of the Year.