In his first two years as a head coach, Bryce Tesdahl guided New Prague to 43 victories and consecutive Wright County Conference championships.
In his next two seasons, Tesdahl led East Ridge to 51 victories and the school's first Class 4A state tournament appearance.
Now, in his fifth season, Tesdahl has inherited perhaps his greatest coaching challenge yet in Minnetonka. The Skippers, playing in the tough Lake Conference, won just 13 games last season.
"I love to coach. I love to educate. I love to build relationships, respect and trust with students and student athletes," Tesdahl said.
While he might not have inherited the same wealth of talent at Minnetonka as he did at New Prague and East Ridge, Tesdahl is happy with his group that is led by seniors Cameron Steele (22 ppg) and Riley O'Connor (18.2 ppg) and includes promising freshman guard Jalen Cain.
"We will need to improve and work more on the defensive end to win big games," Tesdahl said. "If we continue to improve through the daily process, I believe we can be playing good basketball in January through March."
After a 2-3 start this season, things don't get any easier this week against No. 8-4A Eastview (3-1, 0-0), whose only blemish is a 69-61 loss last Thursday to No. 1-4A Eden Prairie.
Steven Crowl, Ryan Thissen, Jaylen James and the Lightning will give the Skippers' defense a big early season test. Crowl, a 6-11 senior committed to Wisconsin, averages 24.3 points; Thissen, a 6-6 senior guard, averages 19.3; and James, a 6-1 senior guard, averages 17. That group last season led Eastview to its first state tournament berth since 2012.