The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

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.

Mandy just finished her 8th season as head coach of the Bulldogs and what a season it was!  Led by Division 2 player of the Year – Brooke Olson, UMD made it all the way to the national championship game for the first time in school history.  Mandy did not set out to become a basketball coach but is glad to find herself in that profession.  She started out at Division 3 – St. Mary’s in Winona where she directed that program to an amazing turnaround including the best single season record in school history.  She has continued that success in Duluth where her team has won 4 NSIC championships.  I really enjoyed hearing from Mandy about their exciting run to the Final Four this year and how special it was for their team.

Bryan is fresh off leading his team to the Minnesota boys basketball class 4A state title.  This is Bryan’s second title in three seasons with the Trojans and he has built a very successful program, but it wasn’t always that way as the school had a 58 year drought between state tournament appearances.  Not only is does Bryan coach at a high level but he played at a high level as well as he still holds a couple of 3-point shooting records in the MIAC from his days at St. Thomas.  We chat about his playing days, getting a head coaching job at the age of 23 and how Wayzata has built such a strong program. 

We bring back Ryan James from the Breakdown and Prep Hoops to preview the upcoming Minnesota boys high school state basketball tournament.  Ryan runs us through each class, gives us some the top players and picks his winner for each class.  We also cover the Mr. Basketball finalists.

Jake Sullivan is one of the greatest shooters to every lace them up in a Minnesota gym.  Jake starred for Tartan high school graduating in the year 2000 but not before he put up some massive statistics.  Jake amassed over 3,000 points in his high school career and led Tartan to the Class 4A state title in his senior season.  From there he went on to have a great career at Iowa St. including being selected as Big 12 freshman of the year.  Injuries cut his post college career short but he’ll always be remembered as one of the best in the metro.

For this episode we bring back our mini-series on Minnesota basketball legends as we are joined by Jordan Taylor.  Jordan was a standout player at Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School.  He led the Red Knights to the state championship in 2008 along with fellow star player Armond Battle.  Jordan graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer and also won the Mr. Basketball award his senior season.  Following high school Jordan went on to play for the University of Wisconsin where he helped guide the Badgers to the NCAA tournament in all 4 years he was there.  He received All-American honors and was recently inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame.  He is currently playing basketball in England and is on year 11 playing overseas.

For this episode we connect with Mountain Iron-Buhl girls varsity basketball head coach – Jeff Buffetta.  Jeff has led the MIB girls program for the past 20+ seasons and has established that program as one of best in the state at the Class 1A level having reached the state tournament 11 of the last 12 seasons.  Oh and by the way Jeff is also the head boys varsity coach at MIB where he has now led the boys program for 4 seasons.  Jeff is one of less than 5 coaches in the country that is coaching both a girls and boys varsity program at the same time.  We chat about why he decided to take on both roles, how he balances both and the craziest week he’s had coaching both teams.  

This episode is a dive into the Minnesota boys high school basketball season with Ryan James from Prep Hoops and Breakdown Sports.  Ryan recaps the recently completed Breakdown Tipoff Classic and share his thoughts on some of the exciting games and big performances that came from that event.  He also gives a nice preview for each class of MN basketball this season from 1A to 4A and highlights the top players in each class.  And finally Ryan shares some of the names to watch for as favorites for Mr. Basketball. 

Grant McGinnis from Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota is back as a guest to preview the Minnesota high school girls basketball season and I could not think of a better person to have on than him to give his insight.  Grant shares his thoughts from the Breakdown Girls Tip-Off Classic that was held recently at Hopkins and highlights some of the big games and performances he witnessed.  We also get into discussing the girls season and hear his thoughts on some of top teams and players in each class.