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Berg named ND College Male Team Coach of the Year
Posted: Jun 30 2010
WILLISTON, N.D. - Williston State College's men's basketball team has been making headlines throughout 2010, and that tradition continued with Coach Hunter Berg recently being named the North Dakota College Male Team Coach of the Year by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
Berg currently serves as athletic director and head men's basketball coach at WSC. He started his coaching career at the college eight years ago, serving as coach of the women's basketball team - a position he held for six years. With the retirement of long-time men's basketball coach Terry Olson, Berg took over the men's program in 2008.
According to the WSC website, "In his second season as Head Men's Coach, Berg guided the Tetons to a record-setting season. Overall, the team finished 25-7, winning the Region XIII and Mon-Dak Conference Championships before coming up just one game short of qualifying for the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, a triple overtime loss to Southeastern (Iowa). "
"I was very surprised," Berg said about hearing that he had received this honor. However, he doesn't take full credit for the award.
"This team was very easy to coach," he said. "I can't say I did an outstanding coaching job. I feel like I coached less this year than in years past. This team was successful because we had good players and they played well together. This award truly is a reflection on the team."
His words of praise for the team are backed up by the numerous awards received by the team, other than setting a school record for most wins. The fact that the team was success is reflected in the many accomplishments and awards they received, including:
- Luke Martinez, a 2nd Team All-American, being named a finalist for the College Male Athlete of the Year (award was given to NDSU running back Pat Parschall who lead Division I-AA in rushing).
- The Teton Men's Basketball Team was also a finalist for the ND College Male Team of the Year (Dickinson State Track was named Team of the Year after finishing 2nd in the nation).
- The 2009-2010 Teton Men's Basketball Team set a school record for most consecutive wins with 17.
Berg also readily admits that he has a lot of help from his coaching staff, and gives them much of the credit for the team's success.
"Our assistant coaches do a lot, especially with the recruiting, and also on the floor coaching," he said. "The players deserve most of the credit (for this award) but the assistant coaches deserve a lot, too. Eric Peterson, who is no longer coaching in our program having moved on to Minnesota State-Moorhead, recruited most of these players and he's very responsible for this success. Hopefully he's proud of this award too as it's a real reflection on him. And Robb Floco came on board with us last year did a great job of working with the players individually and on our team game. I've been blessed with two very good assistant coaches."
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