AAU Coach of the Year: Tara Starks of Metro Stars 2022

Short but sweet – oh so very, very sweet. That is the story of the summer for Metro Stars 2022 Starks, a loaded lineup that played in only three events but won a state championship and a national championship in the process. The architect of this unusual campaign was coach Tara Starks and for her efforts we are pleased to select Tara as the Prep Girls Hoops AAU Coach of the Year.

After sitting out June and July due to concerns on the part of some players and their families about the risks associated with playing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Metro Stars showed up on the tournament circuit in time for the Summer Jam in late July. They lost just once when Starks was out of town and unable to coach. Next up was the Minnesota AAU State Championship which the Starks girls won in dramatic fashion over North Tartan. And then it was the Meltdown/AAU Nationals, where the Metro Stars triumphed once again over North Tartan in four overtimes. It couldn’t have been any more dramatic. Starks pulled all the right strings at just the right time. Both championship games could have gone either way, of course, but this was clearly Tara’s year.

Talent and culture are the keys

Every coach worth their salt will tell you that you can’t win anything of significance without sufficient talent. That’s why recruiting is such an important part of the college game. It’s no different in AAU. It can be a cutthroat business, especially at this time of year, as coaches and club directors jockey to land the top players for next summer’s squads. While clubs fight tooth and nail over the same kids it has become obvious that there is no shortage of players wanting to play for Starks.

The Metro Stars are built around a core of seven players from Hopkins – Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN , Taylor Woodson Taylor Woodson 6'0" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #28 Nation MN , Nunu Agara Nunu Agara 6'1" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #32 Nation MN , Alayna Contreras Alayna Contreras 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2022 State MN , Selam Maher Selam Maher 5'7" | CG St. Louis Park | 2022 State MN , Kelly Boyle Kelly Boyle 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2023 State MN and London Salberg-Thornton London Salberg-Thornton 5'11" | PF Maranatha | 2022 State MN . The recruitment of four more excellent contributors has proven crucial, as well. Talented post Savanna Jones Savanna Jones 6'2" | PF Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN of Eden Prairie (the #13 prospect in the class of 2023), standout defender Ari Gordon Ari Gordon 5'10" | SF Maple Grove | 2022 State MN of Maple Grove, the very gifted rising freshman Liv McGill Liv McGill 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2024 State MN of Park Center as well as an excellent glue player in Mikayla Aumer Mikayla Aumer 5'9" | CG Cambridge-Isanti | 2022 State MN of Cambridge-Isanti have been crucial to the team’s success.

To me, though, the real key to the team’s amazing run may have been what happened when they weren’t playing. It cannot have been easy keeping the team together and practicing and focused and getting better during the early days of summer when the rest of the teams started travelling to Iowa for events. The challenges probably multiplied when the events began on home soil. While Xs and Os are important, team culture is everything in girls basketball and Coach Starks managed to keep the kids on track when many squads would have splintered.

Amazingly, Starks capped off her magical month of August with an even bigger prize – the most coveted coaching job in Minnesota girls high school basketball. Tara was recently named to succeed Brian Cosgriff as head coach at Hopkins. While there were plenty of great candidates for the position, Starks was the obvious choice to me. She has been leading the Royals’ off-season activities for a long time. She has been the mentor and AAU coach to the great Paige Bueckers Paige Bueckers 5'11" | CG Hopkins | 2020 State MN . Tara’s own daughter T.T. Starks is one of the best players to come out of Hopkins. And nobody knows the program and its unique culture better. It’s not easy to follow a legend but if anyone can pull it off it is Tara Starks.

RUNNER-UP

Matt Nilsen – Minnesota Stars 2022 Nilsen

Former Edina High School coach Matt Nilsen has established himself as an outstanding purveyor of basketball knowledge. His Xs and Os are grade A, and Matt’s teams are always outstanding defensively. I think he would rather win a game by holding you below 40 points than see his team score 80 but I digress. As mentioned above, however, talent wins and recruiting is key. Nilsen deserves a big round of applause for the job he did in attracting fresh blood to the team.

The Stars added five top-drawer prospects in time for the 2020 season. Combo guard Desiree Ware Desiree Ware 5'8" | CG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN of Minnetonka, a recent commit to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, raised the bar in the back court. Newcomers Mackenzie Schweim Mackenzie Schweim 5'10" | PG Mankato East | 2022 State MN and Lexi Karge Lexi Karge 6'2" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State MN of Mankato East brought size and skill to the lineup. Big Lily Fandre Lily Fandre 6'2" | SF Eagan | 2022 State MN of Eagan and the very quick and athletic Adeline Kent Adeline Kent 5'8" | CG Becker | 2022 State MN of Becker provided size and speed. All five are strong Division 1 prospects and their arrival paid off big time. The Nilsen squad surprised a lot of teams in the early weeks of the summer season but word soon got out that this year’s team was different.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Andy Bromeling – Southern Minnesota Fury 2021

Andy Bromeling’s Southern Minnesota Fury has been one of the most underappreciated teams in the class over the past few years. Once again this summer the squad was more than competitive. As usual they played hard-nosed, honest basketball – pretty much what you’d expect from a team made up of small-town kids with big-time work ethic. MSU-Moorhead guard Macy Holtz Macy Holtz 5'7" | PG P-E-M | 2021 State MN of Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Kasson-Mantorville point guard Ashlyn Bigelow had particularly big summers as did newcomer Katie Dylla of Medford. Andy did his usually quality job providing direction.

Dre Jefferson – Minnesota Suns 2024 Bluestar

Dre Jefferson has earned a solid reputation as an excellent trainer whose efforts in the long-term development of players is well-established. He is also a quality coach who has put together a standout group of incoming freshmen. The Suns 2024 Bluestar squad could be special for the next three summers if they stay together. Word is there are two more elite prospects joining for next year. The team is led by 2026 point guard Tori Oehrlein of Crosby-Ironton, who plays two years up, and post Lila Posthuma of Prescott, Wisc., along with quality prospects Nicole Maenke, Piper Engelby Piper Engelby 5'11" | SG Andover | 2024 State MN , Casey Beck and Abby Richter.

Matt Pryor – North Tartan 2022 Elite

Matt Pryor is one of the youngest coaches in Minnesota but he has already won more than his share of hardware. After leading Minnehaha Academy to a state AA championship Pryor was the Prep Girls Hoops High School Coach of the Year. This summer he joined North Tartan as coach of its second 2022 team. He didn’t have an elite point guard like he had at Concordia Academy with Ivane Tensaie Ivane Tensaie 5'7" | CG Concordia | 2021 State MN or at Minnehaha with Mia Curtis Mia Curtis 5'8" | CG Minnehaha | 2020 State MN . After going winless in its first weekend, Pryor’s North Tartan team rolled off 13 wins in a row at one point, captured a pair of titles and exceeded all expectations.