South Dakota’s winningest active coach has his team in tonight’s semifinals of the Class B State Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

It has been a memorable season for Castlewood coach Paul Raasch. When the Warriors won their recent SoDak 16 contest, Raasch moved ahead of former Armour coach Burnell Glanzer for third all-time with 618 victories.

“I haven’t really paid a lot of attention to it, other than when I got to 600 this year,” Raasch said of his career record. “It kind of really hit home a little bit. It’s really humbling, the names that are on that list above and below.”

Raasch said he has been fortunate to have coached some standout players through the years.

“The way I look at it is, I’ve been lucky to be in some programs that had great kids and great families and parents,” Raasch said. “I’ve been in all supportive basketball communities. … I tell everyone there isn’t a single person’s name that goes on something like this. There’s been a lot of people involved over the years and played a role in it.”

Raasch has coached for 39 years, 10 in Alpena, 10 more in Webster, 16 in Langford and now three years in Castlewood. And he was won at each location.

“I’ve actually watched him from the very beginning when he started at Alpena, and then it was on to Webster, and then Langford and then back home to Castlewood,” said Viborg-Hurley coach Shane Warwick, a former teammate of Raasch’s when they both attended Castlewood High School. “He’s really been good everywhere he’s been. … There hasn’t been a time when he hasn’t been good for all of these years. It’s an unbelievable run for him.”

Warwick is also coaching in tonight’s semifinals as is Joey Mitchell of Wessington Springs.

Mitchell also has a special connection to Raasch.

“Raasch is a legend. He really is,” Mitchell said. “He’s been successful wherever he goes. It just follows him.”

Mitchell used to play against Raasch-coached teams when he played for Hitchcock-Tulare.

“All three years I went to state it was battling Langford to go to state,” Mitchell said. “And who was on the other side there, it was Paul Raasch every single time.”

Raasch said he has coached long enough to have faced sons of players he used to coach against along the way.

He said the love for sports was just a part of his class at Castlewood High School.

“We had a pretty sports-minded group of kids in high school when we went through,” Raasch said. “We had good coaches Galen Swenson, and Jerry McPartland was our football coach, and we all fell in love with the sport. On our high school team we had seven guys that ended up being coaches at one point or another.”

Raasch said he enjoys helping out younger coaches with things that he has learned through the years.

“I enjoy just talking about basketball with other guys. I don’t claim to know everything about anything, but I have seen a lot of things,” Raasch said. “I’ve been in a lot of different moments, and been around a lot of kids and situations.”

Now approaching four decades as a head coach, Raasch still enjoys working with young people and takes satisfaction in knowing he has outlasted most his contemporaries.

“You look around today, there isn’t many coaches that hang in this that long,” Raasch said. “I’m pretty proud of that fact, that I’ve been able to hang in that long. I just enjoy it.”

Dave Vilhauer

GARNOS FAMILY CARRYING ON TRADITION

If the Garnos name sounds familiar in the state tournament stage, that’s because it is. Lyman’s coach, Cooper Garnos is a regular face at the State B Tournament, but not in the way that most faces are.

With the Lyman Raiders making their way to Aberdeen this year, the Garnos family will have an entire household of state appearances with their youngest son, Canyon Garnos, being a sophomore on this year’s squad. Technically, Canyon was on the court the last time Lyman made it, which was in 2021, but he was the ball boy for that squad.

“You know, we’ve been reflecting a little. Getting together for team dinners the last couple nights and they were pulling up some old pictures from ‘21 and actually, he was one of the ball boys,” said Coach Garnos. “That was four or five years ago and they were pretty little then and obviously grown up now. He’s a sophomore in high school, but yeah, it’s pretty neat to get back here with him again.”

The tradition actually started with Cooper’s parents who took Lyman boys to their first ever state appearance in 1979.

“I definitely got it from my mom and dad. They took them to the state tournaments. The first time Lyman went was in 1979 and then we went in ‘80,” said Cooper. “I was in elementary, so I was looking up to all those guys.”

Cooper was able to get a taste of his own when he helped take Lyman there twice in 1983 and 1985 after preparing for it with his brother.

“Me and my brother, we’d play for hours on end in the old shed,” said Cooper. “And then you know, myself, I played in the ‘83 and ‘85 teams for Lyman.”

But he wasn’t the only one who played in state tournaments back in the day. His wife, Mary Jo, played in the Class AA state tournament for Mitchell in 1986, which has led to a common dispute between the two.

“And then my wife, I don’t want to forget this, she played for the ‘86 Kernels,” Cooper said. “All the time she goes, you’re just a B schooler, but I always come back ‘What’d you guys get in the state tournament’ and she goes ‘Well we got sixth place’ and I go ‘You know what, I can’t remember for sure, but I think we got a little higher.’”

Lyman won State Bs in 1985.

Not only have all three of the Garnos children made it to state tourneys, Cooper has coached all three of them. Their first appearance came in 2014 when their daughter Chesney made the tournament, and then again in 2021 with their middle son Cruz.

“I got a chance to coach my daughter in 2012 to 2014, her team and they made it to the state tournament,” said Cooper. “And then our middle son, he made it to the state tournament in ‘21 and played up here. He’s coaching with us too, so that’s a neat little wrinkle.”

With a family history like that, it leaves a lasting impact on the game, and the community.

“In the big picture, they’re so happy for all the guys. I mean, the parents, the grandparents and the community, it’s pretty neat,” Cooper said. “These little communities, I feel anyways, I grew up in one and I’ve lived there and when you have something like this happen, it’s really a uniter within all the communities.”

Blake Clay

GRANDPA ON THE RUN

It promises to be a busy weekend of Mike Mebius. The Wessington Springs man has three grandsons playing in three different state tournaments this weekend and he plans to watch them all.

Mebius was in Aberdeen on Thursday watching Karter Mebius of Wessington Springs. His other grandsons in action this weekend are Logan Mebius who plays for O’Gorman, and Connor Mebius who plays for West Central.

Grandpa Mebius took in the Wessington Springs game before heading out to Rapid City to watch O’Gorman Thursday night.

“I think we’ve got about 15 minutes to spare,” Mebius said of the tight schedule.

Then it’s off to Sioux Falls for the State A tourney to watch West Central, and back to Aberdeen to cap off the weekend.

“On Saturday we’ll come back here and watch Karter’s last game,” Mebius said, “because he’s a senior and the others are underclassmen.”

Mebius, who will turn 75 next week, played in the State B tournament and also had a son that played in a state tourney in addition to his current grandsons.

Needless to say, Mebius has been on the run all season trying to watch as many as their games as he can.

“We made 79 basketball games this year between the three,” Mebius said.

When asked how many miles he logged, Mebius responded, “For basketball it was 6,700 and some miles this year. … It’s worth it.”

Dave Vilhauer

FATHER FACING SON IN TONIGHT’S SEMIFINALS

It promises to be a unique environment this evening when Viborg-Hurley meets Dell Rapids St. Mary in the semifinals at 7:45. That’s because it will pit a father coaching against his son.

Shane Warwick is the coach for Viborg-Hurley and his son, Walker, is a member of the DRSM squad.

“It’s been talked about now,” Coach Warwick said once people realized there was a possibility of that happening.

He knew that things would have to fall just right in order for that to take place.

“If that does happen, that my team got in the state tournament and that his team got in the state tournament with St. Mary’s that would be awesome, and if we ended up having to play each other here on Friday night, that means that we both won,” Warwick said. “Honestly, I’m just thankful about that part more than anything else. That’s how I look at it.”

He said the relationship is pure father-son, not opponents facing each other.

“It’s father-son, we really don’t get into that piece of that,” he said, “so it’s all good.”

Warwick got to see a dozen of Walker’s games this year when Viborg-Hurley didn’t have a game scheduled.

“I think I got to see 12 games this year,” he noted. “The schedules really worked well on that.”

Dave Vilhauer