The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

From a hog farm in a tiny southern Minnesota town to becoming to the states leading scorer that was the path of today’s guest – Cody Schilling.

Cody grew up in Ellsworth, MN with 21 kids in his graduating class but that close knit family and community raised him into a high school basketball superstar, a division two all-american and now head coach at his alma mater.  After graduating from high school as Minnesota's boys basketball’s leading scorer and assist maker, Cody’s path took him to Augustana University in South Dakota where he finished his career as that’s schools all-time leading scorer. Recently he was just named head men’s basketball coach for the Vikings and can’t wait to get going.  

For only the second time ever and for the first time since 1984, the same school has won both the women’s and men’s basketball championship in division two.  That school is Minnesota State Mankato!  In this two part episode you will hear from the coach of each of those teams.

In her 12th season as head coach Emilee Thiesse led the Mavericks to a 32 - 5 record this year, the NSIC regular season and tournament titles and of course the national championship.  Coach Thiesse’s team is known for its uptempo and full court style of play and with that style forced their opponents into an average of 28 turnovers per game.  We chat about overcoming a slow start to the beginning of their season, getting on a roll in the regular season and capping it all off in a championship.

Coach Matt Margenthaler has led the men’s team for 23 seasons at Mankato and this year’s team finished 35 - 2 and also won the NSIC regular season and tournament titles along with winning the national championship in dramatic fashion.  The son of a coach he has basketball in his blood along with a deep passion for Mavericks hoops.  We discuss what made this team special, playing on their home court in the regional playoffs and that memorable championship game.

For this episode I am joined by the head boys basketball coach of the Minnetonka Skippers – Bryce Tesdahl.   Bryce and his team just won the boys class 4A state championship capping off a fabulous season.  Coaching is not new to Bryce or his family.  He is the grandson of Bob McDonald who is the all-time winningest coach in MN boys basketball history.  While he is following in his grandfather’s footsteps he is also blazing his own trail.  Bryce was also an outstanding player growing up in Crosby-Ironton and helped lead them to the state tournament and also went on to play collegiately at Bemidji State.  We chat about playing for a legendary high school coach, their championship season and overcoming a losing streak against a long time conference rival in the state final.

For this episode I’m joined by two MN boys high school basketball experts to help break down the upcoming MN boys state basketball tournament.  Ryan James from Prep Hoops and TC Hoops Czar are here to give us their insight into each bracket for the 4 classes, some of the top players to watch and who they think will win it all.   No one watches more high school basketball than these two and it will be fun to hear their thoughts.

For this episode we’re trying something we’ve never done before and that’s two guests in separate interviews put into one episode.  And these guests are legends in Minnesota girls high school basketball.

First we have Alexandria head coach – Wendy Kohler.  Wendy is in her 39th season leading the Cardinals and has been quite the fixture on the sideline.  She recently coached in her 1,000th game and is nearing win number 700 for her career.  She sits as the winningest female coach in Minnesota basketball history and is number 3 overall for all girls basketball coaches.  She has led Alexandria to the state tournament 12 times capturing the state title in 1997.  Her team is red hot again this season and is currently ranked #3 in class AAA.  

For part two of this episode we are joined by the winningest head basketball coach in MN state history girls OR boys and that is Mike Dreier from New London-Spicer.  Mike’s team success and numbers speak for themselves over his 45 seasons as head coach.  He currently has 1,062 wins and boasts an amazing 84% career winning percentage.  He also ranks number 13 nationally for most wins in the history of girls high school basketball.  Mike has led the Wildcats to the state tournament a record 20 times and has two state championships winning it all in 1997 and 2002.  This year’s squad is again ranked in the top 5 in class AA and is looking for another trip back to state.  

Ryan James from Prep Hoops joins the program again to chat all things MN boys high school basketball.  He recaps the Breakdown tip off classic, speaking on some of the great games and top performances.  He also dives into a preview for each of the four classes for the boys high school season and who he sees as some of the top contenders to win it all as well as some of the players to watch.  We also get into some Mr. Basketball talk and some Gopher men’s hoops.

Back for his third appearance on the show - Grant McGinnis from Prep Girls Hoops joins the show to preview the MN girls high school basketball season and also recaps the recently completed Breakdown Girls Tip-Off Classic which brings in a good amount of the best teams and players to play on one weekend in the metro.  Grant shares his thoughts on some of the top performances from that event along with his take on who the top teams are to watch in each of the four classes for MN girls basketball.

In the MIAC conference there are two schools that you need to start paying attention to as an opponent or a basketball fan if you haven’t before.  Both St. Mary’s University and Macalester College have had tough seasons on the hardwood in the not so distant past but in the last 5 seasons have taken some steps to no longer be a pushover in their conference.  I am joined by the head coaches of each program – Joe Fano and Abe Woldeslassie to talk about their journeys.  Both coaches are entering their 6th season leading their schools.

At St. Mary’s – the season prior to Coach Fano arriving they finished 1 – 24 and in a short time Joe has the Cardinals headed in the right direction as they have had 3 appearances in the MIAC post-season tournament in his 5 years and also led the school to their first MIAC playoff win in school history!

At Macalester – the Scots had won just 35 games in the 10 seasons prior to Coach Woldeslassie taking over and he also has had a positive influence on his program leading the Scots to the MIAC playoffs in back to back seasons, including the championship game in 2021-22 doing so as #6 seed which had never before happened in MIAC history.

For both of them this is their first head coaching job at any level and we discuss what prepared them for their jobs, some of their most memorable moments at their schools so far and the keys to sustaining momentum.

For this episode the Bare's Den podcast producer (Dan Schultz) takes over the hosting duties and interviews two longtime pro sports executives.  The host of the Bare's Den - Matt Bare who has worked for the Minnesota Timberwolves for 20 years and the longest tenured employee for the Minnesota Timberwolves - Jeff Munneke who has been with the club for 35 years!

They both share how they got their start in sports, what has kept them in sports for that long, what some of the challenges are and the things they enjoy most.  Enjoy this episode as it provides a little look behind the curtain of the sports life in the business office.

Our guest for this episode is former Perham High School boys basketball head coach and newly hired M State Community College head men's coach - Dave Cresap.  Coach Cresap has coached the last 37 seasons of high school basketball, including the last 28 seasons in Perham.  Dave got that program going in the right direction taking the helm in 1995 and finishes his high school career with a record of 666 – 298, good for a 69% career winning percentage and sits at #8 all time in MN boys history for number of wins.  Dave led the Yellow Jackets to five state tournament appearances including a state championship in 2011.  We dive into that 2011 season, the secret to all of the success he’s had at Perham and why now was time to step out of high school coaching and into college coaching.